New Found Glory - Photo by Holly Homan.When I walked into the legendary Showbox across from the Pike Place Market, last Sunday night the first band of the Pop Punk’s Not Dead show was already on stage and in full swing. This Time Next Year is a Bay Area pop/punk five-piece that play a very poppy sound with punk thrown in and shaken, not stirred. They reminded me quite a bit of Blink 182 with maybe a little Big D and The Kid’s Table sans ska thrown in. They ignited the packed like proverbial sardines club into pogoing and crowd surfing. In all my years of attending concerts, I have never seen the first band rile a crowd into such a frenzy. This Time Next Year knows how to work an audience and they know how to put on a high energy, very fun show. This is a band to look out for. With talent like this, they’re sure to be a household name in the very near future.
Next up was Man Overboard. Man Overboard is another five-piece but from New Jersey. The three guitarists, bass and drums gave them a more metal sound, but with a pop/punk flavor that was filled with more hooks than your average tackle box. Man Overboard also sounded a bit Blink 182ish with hooky, poppy licks and two-part harmony, but beefed up on steroids. Their music packed a punch. They were also very well received with the usual number of crowd surfers tumbling over the barricade. Their songs reflect a sweet innocence with lyrics like I feel good when I hold your hand. They have also garnered some notoriety here because many in the audience sang along with their songs. Man Overboard is another band to watch out for. They put on a fabulous show.
The third band is another to watch out for – The Wonder Years. This is a six-piece band from Philadelphia with three guitars, a bass, drums and a singer. Singer Dan (Soupy) Campbell immediately engaged the audience, encouraging them to be active participants. He pointed the mike out to them, while they sang the lyrics to many of their songs. Five beefy security guards earned their keep pulling crowd surfer after crowd surfer over the barricade, releasing them back onto the dance floor to go again. This is a very animated band, running around on the stage as if it were made of hot coals. They also played songs many in the audience sang along to plus some from their brand new album called Suburbia. The Wonder Years poured every ounce of themselves into this performance and I don’t doubt for one second that they don’t do this for all shows. They left the stage with raucous cheers from everyone.
Bouncer After Confetti Spray - Photo by Holly Homan.Set Your Goals came on stage after a short break and they didn’t disappoint either. This was another six-piece band except when they invited a saxophone player on stage, they became seven. There were no quirky hooks for these guys. It was all In Your Face rock and roll, yet melodic. Set Your Goals is unusual in that there are two singers, Matt Wilson and Jordan Brown, neither of whom stood still. The two of them ran from one side of the stage to the other, riling the audience into crazed delirium as they tumbled head over heels over the barricade. For the finale, one of the singers threw his mike into the crowd and let them finish singing the song. There was so much slamming and fists thrusting into the air that it was hard to tell who had more energy — the band or the audience. Even though Set Your Goals has only been around since 2004, they were so accomplished both at churning out tunes and working an audience, one would think they were more seasoned.
I couldn’t believe it. All four warm-up acts were great. There wasn’t a dud among them. It was really like this was a rock festival and no one was the headliner. They were all that good.
Even the break tape played great songs. I heard The Ramones, MXPX, NOFX. Things just couldn’t get better.
New Found Glory - Photo by Holly Homan.Then the band I think we all were waiting for, New Found Glory, hit the stage. But I backtrack. When the sound check was happening, someone in a gorilla suit sat on the drum riser, stuck a microphone into his mouth and repeated, “Check, one two” over and over without removing the gorilla mask that also sported exaggerated ears. I knew then I was in for some fun. My predictions did not fail. New Found Glory hit the stage and never stopped moving. No one in this ban stands still more than a couple seconds except the drummer, but he moved the sticks so fast they were often just blurs. New Found Glory also has a brand new record out called Radio Surgery, from which they played a number of songs, but they also played classics such as Hit Or Miss (Waited Too Long, which everyone sang along to. The band stated that the tour was called Pop Punk’s Not Dead because there were punk bands around long before New Found Glory and there will be punk bands long after New Found Glory.
For the last song, vocalist Jordan Pundik stood against the barricade and pointed the microphone out into the crowd as they sang the words to Hit or Miss. They left the stage but not for long before returning for an encore where they performed a cover of Green Day’s Basket Case followed by The Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop. Someone came on stage with a huge blower, stuffed it full of colorful confetti and blew it straight into the crowd. Everyone, including security was covered in brightly colored confetti.
The crowd was composed of mostly younger people in their teens to twenties which may explain why more seemed to know the words to Basket Case more than Blitzkrieg Bop. After playing one more song – My Friend’s Over You, New Found Glory left the stage for keeps and the break music once again wafted through the club. Although this time the music had deteriorated into that screamo junk where the vocalist sounds like he’s puking his guts out after a night of binge drinking. I guess The Showbox crew wanted to get us out in a hurry.
This was a great night! There were a total of five bands all of whom put on outstanding shows. I doubt anyone left disappointed.
