| NEW FOUND GLORY finally live in New Zealand... |
| Written by Sarah Mudgway |
| Thursday, 15 April 2010 11:11 |
 Tell all my friends I'm dead, because I just died and went to pop-punk heaven... Scene heavyweights NEW FOUND GLORY, finally made it to New Zealand for one energy filled show at the Transmission Room in Auckland, and rocked it like it was 2002. Opening their 22 song set with 'Understatement' from their album 'Sticks And Stones', the explosion of energy both on and off-stage was incredible - and despite their non-stop touring over the past few months, NFG seemed genuinely happy to be FINALLY playing in New Zealand and gave it their all - ensuring long-time fans, a show to remember. It was a long time coming, but the wait was well worth it.  Moving straight into 'Don't Let Her Pull You Down' off of their 2009 release 'Not Without A Fight', followed by 'Hold My Hand' from 'Coming Home', New Found Glory jumped around their entire discography with ease - emphasising that while their genre of music reached what many would call it's peak in the early 2000's - their music is still relevant and fresh, whether the song was written one year ago, or ten. 'Better Off Dead' was followed by 'All Downhill From Here', which brought out circle pits and took the jumping/singing/screaming to a whole new level. I'm pretty sure most of the crowd, including myself, were transported back to 2002 and felt like they were sixteen again. The smiles on everyone's faces whilst shouting along with every word Jordan Pundik sung, illustrated that perhaps we would all have liked to have stayed sixteen a little longer. 'Truck Stop Blues' was followed by the first of the three covers of the night - 'Kiss Me' - which had arms swinging and even a lighter make an appearance for a brief moment. 'Head On Collision' and 'Truth Of My Youth' showcased the musical talents of the backing band - Cyrus Bolooki's drumming was non-stop energy, guitarist Steve Klein while hanging out mostly in the background continuously smiled, and the shirtless Ian Grushka rocked his Taylor Swift signed bass-guitar while singing along to every word. The bands thirteen year career span has served their stage show well, everything was performed with ease but never felt overly rehearsed.  'Sincerely Me' from their self-titled release - the release they were touring to celebrate - was followed by 'Hit Or Miss', which took the energy up to a whole new level, with a barrage of people who had been standing back pushing forward to get as close as possible to Jordan Pundik, who at this point had left the stage and started singing from the crowd. 'It's Not Your Fault' was followed by my personal favourite from their set - 'Failure's Not Flattering' - before the second cover of the night 'Iris'. 'Dressed to Kill', 'Forget My Name' and 'Listen To Your Friends' rounded off the main set for the night, and as the lights dimmed and the band walked off stage, immediately the chants for 'N-F-G' started up and the requests for songs got louder as everyone realised that there were only a few songs left - and their chance at seeing their favourite song was getting smaller by the minute. Walking back on stage a few short minutes later, the band once again apologized for taking so long to get to New Zealand, promised they would be back, and then launched into 'Intro', before 'Something I Call Personality'. Then by request, 'At Least I'm Known For Something' was played - a song which was missing from their Australian sets - and then screams for their Gorilla Biscuits cover 'No Reason Why' were so loud, it had Chad Gilbert express how many 'hardcore kids' were in Auckland, before playing it.  A few more thank yous later, Jordan took to the microphone and sang those few words which we all knew were coming - "And though you swear that you are true..." - a sentence he didn't have to finish as the crowd took over. Stage dive after stage dive, the song was the perfect ending to an already amazing night and the statements of "that was the best concert ever" coming from ridiculously sweaty kids, never seemed more true. The bright blue t-shirts which greeted and farewelled attendees at the entrance of the Transmission Room were correct - pop-punk is not dead, and New Found Glory proved that fact by giving the perfect pop-punk performance - a little edgy, a lot whiny, musically not quite perfect, but high energy and good time sing-a-longs which made up for everything.  |
