For the second night in a row, work on the billion dollar light rail project wasn’t the only thing causing a disturbance on George Street, as hundreds of excited fans descended on the Metro Theatre.
Many punters arrived with freshly-signed New Found Glory memorabilia thanks to an in-store signing that afternoon arranged by the legends at UNFD and Utopia Records. But no matter how you started the night out, by the end of it you had something priceless – the experience of seeing giants of their genre doing what they do best.
As the theatre floor began to fill up, Sydneysiders Stand Atlantic took to the stage. Hand-picked by New Found Glory to open the night, the powerful pop-rockers played a solid 45-minute set incorporating songs from their 2015 EP A Place Apart and upcoming release Sidewinder.
Riding high from inking a deal with international label Rude Records (and being the first Aussie band to do so), lead singer/guitarist Bonnie Fraser was in good spirits, jumping around, posing for photos and joking with the crowd.
Wayne Newton’s 1963 version of ‘Danke Schoen’ blasted through the speakers as the men-of-the-hour donned their instruments, to the delight of the highly vocal audience. When I call New Found Glory giants, I mean that figuratively and literally – they all stand at six feet, and dwarfed the CD-shaped stage props featuring the covers of all their albums to date.
What ensued was a nostalgic pop-punk love-in. After treating the audience to their self-titled release and 2002’s Sticks and Stones on the previous night, Friday night’s setlist consisted of Catalyst and Not Without A Fight in full.
The audience erupted into song as the band’s larger-than-life front man Jordan Pundik belted out their anthemic oldies-but-goodies, including ‘Failure’s Not Flattering’, ‘All Downhill From Here’, ‘Listen to Your Friends’, ‘Don’t Let Her Pull You Down’ and ‘Truck Stop Blues’ with boundless energy. What was even more interesting was hearing lesser-known tracks like ‘This Isn’t You’ and ‘Doubt Full’.
This is more than an anniversary for us, this is a celebration and to say thank you for allowing us to continue to make music our way… we wouldn’t be here without you. [Chad Gilbert]
Lead guitarist Chad Gilbert spoke passionately between songs, praising the crowd and joking with the band about everything from iTunes, to their Eaton Hill gig the next night, to the band’s inception in 1997 – and as they continue to reminisce with fans around the country, I think Gilbert summed it up best when he said “Here’s to another forty years!”
Pop-punk is alive and thriving.
New Found Glory played the Metro Theatre on Friday August 11.
