New Found Glory are pop-punk legends. Bands in the scene who have been around for years, and those who are just now starting out, look up to them, and are inspired by them.
The room is filled with sweaty pop-punk fans, and New Found Glory merchandise galore. The lights go down and everyone is already breaking glass with their high pitch screams. The band’s set opens with a projector showing Judy Garland singing ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’. The band get on stage and everyone’s excitement levels are through the roof, the same roof that may actually fall down due to the loudness of both the band and the crowd. The band kick it off old school with ‘Understatement’, and the crowd sings it in its entirety. ‘Hit or Miss (Waited Too Long)’ might be off their 1999 album, an album that was out when a lot of the people in the room we just infants, but that doesn’t stop anyone from screaming the lyrics, and almost breaking the chandeliers with their energetic, bouncy castle-like jumping. During the song, frontman Jordan Pundik gets down from the stage, and into the crowd. It just really wouldn’t be a pop-punk show without at least one member of a band crowd surfing (impressively, he continues singing as he is flipped upside down). The band also plays tracks from their newest album Resurrection, which go down really well, and even cause a mosh pit… or 3.
Source: George PowellNew Found Glory have a lot of love for their fans, it’s easy to see that by the way they address the crowd, the way they encourage demo-throwing fans to do just that, and the way they tell off security guards who handle members of the crowd aggressively.
With the Pop Punk’s Not Dead banner in the background the band play the classic ‘My Friends Over You’ and are joined by Special Guest Hayley Williams of Paramore. The singer – who also happens to be guitarist Chad Gilbert’s girlfriend – runs around stage causing chaos, doing cute routines with singer Jordan, and jumping on Chad as he tries to play. In true New Found Glory style, the song is fun, chaotic and energetic.
The band do their encore, and end the Pop Punk’s Not Dead tour, with ‘All Downhill From Here’, and everyone goes crazy one last time before it’s over, and we’re all suffering from post-concert depression.
Pop punk is most definitely not dead!
Source: George Powell
