Gig Review: New Found Glory (Pop Punk's Not Dead)

WHAT. A. NIGHT. WOW! Still can hardly believe that I got to see Only Rivals, Candy Hearts, State Champs, The Story So Far and New Found Glory all in one night, with my own eyeballs! Either way, before I get carried away, here's my verdict on the performances of the night...

If you like pop punk/rock music and you haven't yet checked out Only Rivals get on it. I hadn't heard any of their music before coming to the show but they were really good. It was nice to see a band that are each evidently such different characters, come together and play some collectively awesome music. The lead singer was a little hard on himself, shaking his head a couple of times after he'd slightly miss a note but, he kept it all together. Solid opener.

Next up Candy Hearts. I've been waiting to see this band for about a year now and the time finally came. I have to say I was a little surprised to be honest. I was surprised at how "cute" they were. The lead singer was just adorable, and I guess I was just expecting something a little more gritty. Once I'd focused though, I thought that at times they sounded a bit like a female fronted Blink-182. I liked their song "All The Ways You Let Me Down" and speaking to Mariel after the show - she is super sweet, definitely check them out - talented bunch of cool people.

Before the show started, I'd seen a bunch of State Champs shirts bopping around in the crowd so I figured that theirs would be a pretty energetic set to say the least. They were on 100% from beginning to end. The first crowd surfers of the night and honestly, first real movement of the night - the crowd just went mad for them. I definitely need to check out all of their music properly because to put it briefly they were on point. I swear, some of the best things seem to come from Pure Noise Records. Derek was super courteous on stage, praising every band individually and he was equally as courteous in person. Genuinely cool band.

Now, the band that I personally was probably most excited for - The Story So Far. I was so sure that by the end of their set I wouldn't have a voice left. Every time I see them perform live the crowd just seems like if they don't scream every one of Parker's lyrics at the top of their lungs whilst pointing their fingers at the stage then they might die. So I did exactly that and it was brilliant. Circle pits and crowd surfers galore. They slayed. There really wasn't time to come up for air. This is a band that I really want to see around for a long, long time to come.

Finally for the stars of the show, the glorious rockers that put together this fantastic spectacle - New Found Glory. It's rare that I'm watching a band and I stop mid-show and think how lucky I am to be seeing them. They were awesome! You know in cheesy movies when they play those montages of important events happening and things happen in slow motion and the camera zooms in on people's joy filled, elated faces - this happened in my mind several times during the set. It was surreal. I'm definitely more of an old school NFG fan but after this show it would seem that I need to purchase their new record - Resurrection. When they played songs like "Kiss Me" and "My Friends Over You" I just lost it. The crowd was considerably older than I'd imagined but I think in those moments everyone felt like a teenager again. Grown men pushing to the front, crowd surfing and generally fanning out. It was just an amazing vibe. Whoever was able to make it out to one of these shows, count yourselves lucky. Pop punk is most certainly not dead.

Overall Rating - 9/10


Here are some pictures from the night...