GALLERY + REVIEW: Fit For A King - Stroudsburg, PA (5/22/26)

May 23

Fit For A King (w/ Acres, ten56. & Invent Animate)
Sherman Theater - Stroudsburg, PA - May 22nd, 2026
Photos & words by Lexi Schnell (@lexischnell)

As a new resident of northeast Pennsylvania, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from my first show at Sherman Theater. The Lonely God tour — featuring Fit For A King, Invent Animate, ten56., and Acres — answered that question pretty quickly. The lineup was stacked on paper, and unsurprisingly, the night actually lived up to it.

Worth noting: Sherman Theater had a lot of signs about no crowd surfing and security seemed adamant to enforce it. The audience mostly respected that — which is unusual for a metalcore show — though a few people still took their shot. The first crowd surfer of the night was actually a kid who couldn't have been older than seven.

Acres opened the night and wasted no time making themselves known. The UK five-piece hit hard from the jump — heavy riffs, big choruses, and a genuine effort to get the early crowd moving. "Bloodlust" landed with real intensity, but their closing track "Lost" was the highlight: by the end, fans across the venue were fully locked in, and even a few security staff seemed to forget they were working. After their set, the band stayed at their merch table all night, which says a lot about who they are.

ten56. followed and delivered one of the most chaotic, fun sets of the evening. The French band's sound hits hard on record, but live it's a different thing entirely — the drumming was relentless, the energy never let up, and their vocalist had a presence that kept pulling your attention back to the stage. A standout moment came when they called for an all-girls pit, which you don't see often at shows like this and immediately got a massive reaction. Ten56. also had a knack for reading the room — pulling back just long enough for a lighter-filled moment before snapping right back into breakdown territory. Unpredictable in the best way.

By the time Invent Animate walked out in coordinated white outfits, the venue was packed and ready. The band brought a more atmospheric, textured side to the night — the kind that hits differently than straight aggression, but still capable of dropping genuinely crushing moments. Vocalist Marcus Vik made a point of connecting with fans at the barricade throughout the set, and the crowd sang back loud on tracks like "Without a Whisper." They also previewed newer material including "Fall Like Rain" before closing out with one of their heaviest songs and a wall of death that got one of the biggest reactions all night.

Fit for a King closed things out, and from the first notes of "Begin the Sacrifice" the room made clear this was the moment everyone had been waiting for. The band's chemistry was obvious — Ryan Kirby commanded the stage vocally while bassist Ryan "Tuck" O'Leary basically never stopped moving, working in spins and jumps throughout the entire set. Songs from Dark Skies hit especially hard with the longtime fans in the room, and "The Price of Agony" pushed things even higher. The band also took time throughout the set to shout out their tourmates, which felt genuine rather than obligatory. It was the kind of headlining performance that explains why they've built the following they have.

The Lonely God tour stop in Stroudsburg delivered exactly what it should have — a stacked bill where every band pulled their weight and a crowd that was there for all of it.