ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A performer who arguably defined emo music — and who in 2018 headlined Bethlehem's Musikfest — will play the much-smaller Archer Music Hall.
Dashboard Confessional, whose 2000 album “The Swiss Army Romance” is largely viewed as the creation of emo, will perform at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 14.
Tickets, which will start at $52.50 for the general admission standing floor, go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 13, at the Archer website or the box office at 939 Hamilton St.Archer Music Hall
Tickets, which will start at $52.50 for the general admission standing floor, go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 13 at the Archer websiteor the box office at 939 Hamilton St.
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Chris Carrabba arguably started emo — which combined punk music with emotional, confessional lyrics and singing — with the release of Dashboard Confessional's “The Swiss Army Romance” as a side project while he was in the band Further Seems Forever.
The disc broke the Top 40 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart, and produced the single "Screaming Infidelities," which hit No. 22 on the Modern Rock chart.
Its sophomore album, 2001's "The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most," reached No. 5 on the Indie chart and achieved gold sales.
Dashboard Confessional then became perhaps the most successful emo act, producing two more gold albums.
In 2003, “A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar” and 2006’s “Dusk and Summer” — each hit No. 2 on Billboard’s overall Albums chart and topped the Indie and Rock charts.
The group also had a platinum album from a 2002 appearance on “MTV Unplugged.” It also hit No. 1 on the Indie chart.
Dashboard Confessional's 2002 song “Vindicated” from the soundtrack to “Spider-man 2” hit No. 2 on Billboard’s Modern Rock chart.
A hiatus, then a popular return
It continued to have success with the 2007 album "The Shade of Poison Trees," which also topped the Indie chart, and 2009's "Alter the Ending," which peaked at No. 6 on the Rock chart.
In 2011, Carrabba decided that even if emo had not run its course, his place in it had. He put the band on indefinite hiatus and briefly reunited with Further Seems Forever for a 2012 album.
Dashboard Confessional returned with the 2018 album "Crooked Shadows, which hit No. 4 on the Rock chart and included the 2017 Top 15 Rock chart single "We Fight."Dashboard Confessional website
Then he formed the Americana/folk group Twin Forks, with which he released an EP in 2013 and full album in 2014.
But Carrabba said he rediscovered the “emotion” behind emo music when, in 2016, he wrote the song “May” and decided its sound and form were that of Dashboard Confessional.
The band returned with the 2018 album "Crooked Shadows, which hit No. 4 on the Rock chart and included the 2017 Top 15 Rock chart single "We Fight."
Dashboard Confessional's most recent album was 2022's "All the Truth That I Can Tell."
Dashboard Confessional played Sands Bethlehem Event Center with All American Rejects in May 2017, drawing about 2,000 people.
In 2018, the band headlined Musikfest with All Time Low.
The booking continues Archer Music Hall's awareness of emo music.
In January, it announced emo singer Secondhand Serenade,the acoustic rocker who had the double-platinum hit "Fall for You" in 2008 and put three songs in the Top 20 on Billboard's Indie Albums chart.
It also offers occasional Emo Nights, with Emo Night Brooklyn scheduled for its smaller Arrow room on Saturday, Feb. 14.
