There’s no question that the pop-punk and emo music of the early 2000s is making a comeback: Twenty years after its initial success, pop-punkers Yellowcard last year had its first-ever No. 1 Alternative chart hit, and this year had its second.

A twin bill of Yellowcard and Taking Back Sunday on Aug. 8 became the second sellout headline concert on the Wind Creek Steel Stage at Musikfest 2026 in Bethlehem. The first was “Weird Al” Yankovic, Aug. 4. The 6,500-person crowd was Yellowcard’s largest Pennsylvania audience ever, singer Ryan Key said.

There’s good reason for that: It’s great music, as the two bands proved.

While Yellowcard officially had top billing, Taking Back Sunday stole the show with a 17-song, 70-minute set that was even better than when the band was topping the charts 20 years ago.

The group’s intensity hasn’t waned. Singer Adam Lazzara’s voice still can handle the screamo requirements as well as the high notes, and the songs still connected, as the crowd that sang along loudly through the night did attest.

“We don’t have a lot of time, but there’s a lot we want to get to,” Lazzara told the crowd.

And perhaps that’s why the set landed so well: It was packed with the group’s best songs, starting with “What’s It Feel Like to Be a Ghost” from the group’s third album, “Louder Now,” celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The night’s set included five songs from the album.

Lazzara was swinging and jumping around the stage. His enthusiasm didn’t wane throughout the set.

It also helped that guitarist Fred Mascherino, returning to the band after more than 15 years, offered the group’s signature strong “echo” voice, appropriately singing “Louder now!” on that opening song.

The Top 25 Alternative hit “Liar (It Take One to Know One)” was just as intense, and Lazzara showed his voice remains intact, as he hit the high notes.

Similarly strong “Set Phasers to Stun” paired well with the strong new song “The One,” from the group’s most recent album, 2023’s “152,” with Lazzara smiling and dancing so intensely that he took off his jacket.

The crowd loudly cheered “Error: Operator,” as it did most every song, and after “You Know How I Do,” Lazzara screamed, “Is everybody having a good time tonight?” Mascherino reminded the crowd he has lived in Pennsylvania (Chester County) all his life.

“Tidal Wave,” a chanty example of the punk part of pop-punk, was good, and led into the even better “You’re So Last Summer,” in which the crowd was invested, and an especially intense “Flicker, Fade,” with Lazzara showing off those impressive screams.

The 2004 Alt hit “A Decade Under the Influence” also connected with the crowd, and on the new “Lightbringer,” Lazzara again wailed vocally.

It wasn’t just Lazzara who remained intense. On the group’s newest single, “S’Old,” Mascherino swung with his guitar to the back of the stage, then back to the front.

Of course, the hits most excited the crowd, and Taking Back Sunday closed strongly, starting with “Timberwolves of New Jersey” from the group’s 2002 debut album “Tell All Your Friends,” then the straight-forward rocker “You Can’t Look Back.”

That album’s biggest hit, “Cute Without the ‘E’ (Cut from the Team),” again had the whole crowd singing along – ”This is a whole lot,” Lazzara told the crowd – and guitarist John Nolan finished the song with a long, impressive scream.

Taking Back Sunday closed with its biggest hit, the 2006 Top 10 Alt hit “MakeDamnSure,” a fitting statement of what the band did to make the set successful.

Just because Taking Back Sunday won the night doesn’t mean Yellowcard wasn’t also very good, and showed the staying power of its music with a 16-song, 71-minute set.

It started with a recent Alt chart-toppers, “Better Days,” title track from last year’s comeback album, the group’s first in nine years. Singer Ryan Key, dressed in a skeleton shirt, showed that his voice has stayed intact: high and clear.

What followed were more hits: 2003’s Top 25 Alt hit “Way Away,” with the crowd singing loudly, and excitedly, along, and the fast 2011 minor hit “For You and Your Denial.”

The fast-but-controlled 2006 Alt hit “Rough Landing, Holly” highlighted Yellowcard’s signature pop-punk violin from Sean Mackin, the group’s only other original member besides Key.

Key said that guitarist Ryan Mendez, who’s been with the band since 2005, had to have emergency surgery and couldn’t play Saturday.

The new “Love Letters Lost” was paired with the bright and shimmering 2012 single “Always Summer.” Key again showed off his vocals by holding a long ending note on the 2007 single “Light Up the Sky.”

Technical problems delayed the start of “Empty Apartment,” but it turned out for the better: Key and Mackin ended up offering it in a very nice, sparse presentation, with Key holding a long, long closing note.

The 2005 Alt hit “Lights and Sounds” was very good, stretched with a nearly minute-long drum solo, an oddity for fast-and-furious pop-punk.

Also odd throughout the set was that Yellowcard played the “oldies” card. Before it opened, it played the theme song to the movie “Ghostbusters” – the movie’s Stay Puft Marshmallow Man danced around stage – and offered clips of other now-classic movies, such as “Back to the Future,” “The Goonies” and “The Karate Kid,” all from the 1980s, not the early 2000s.

Yellowcard showed its staying power with an excellent newer song, “City of Angels,” that advances the group’s sound: sort of emo-rock for the present. The crowd liked it, too, responding with a loud cheer.

But again, the crowd was most interested in the hits, and after a very good version of “Breathing” from its 2003 benchmark platinum album “Ocean Avenue,” it dove into its 2005 gold hit “Only One.”

And when Key sang that song’s lyrics, “Scream my lungs out and try and get to you,” the crowd, indeed, screamed its lungs out.

Almost as good was Yellowcard’s most recent hit, and only second-ever No. 1 hit, “Bedroom Posters,” showing that pop-punk not only remains good music, but still is evolving.

Yellowcard closed with its biggest hit, 2004’s double-platinum “Ocean Avenue,” which opened to a huge cheer. “What a massive rock ‘n’ roll show,” Key said.

The cheers were deserved. It’s a great song, and they performed it well.

It showed pop-punk is worthy of the revival.

Opening the concert was The Click Five, the pop band that briefly topped the charts and won MTV awards in the mid-2000s, and last year reunited (without original singer Eric Dill) after a 12-year break-up.

The group offered a surprisingly good 10-song, 42-minute set of its classic music, starting with “Good Day,” sounding a bit more rock, but still full of its signature hooky pop.

Singer Kyle Patrick, who took over for Dill for the group’s 2007 second album, didn’t quite match the high notes on the 2005 minor hit “Catch Your Wave,” but did reasonably well, as he did on the 2007 single “Happy Birthday” and even better, singing with emphasis, on the 2007 single “Empty,” on which he was the original singer.

The 2007 single “Jenny” was good, but didn’t flow as well as it did. Before “Pop Princess,” Patrick asked the crowd, “Does anyone remember Hannah Montana?” The Disney Channel show starring Miley Cyrus debuted in 2006. Patrick noted that the song appeared on the soundtrack.

The group closed with “Just The Girl,” its 2005 gold hit, for which the crowd cheered and sang along.

It, too, wasn’t quite as good as the original, but is still a good song.

“You might remember us from [MTV’s] ‘TRL’ days,” Patrick told the crowd. “It’s good to be back.”

And it’s good to have pop-punk back.