Back in early 2012, when New Found Glory headlined the annual Kerrang Tour, Chad promised to bring America's Pop Punks Not Dead tour to the rainy shores of Britain. Whilst I hoped beyond hope that the line up would be the same I knew it would be unlikely and was still pretty excited that in the end the UK version included The Story So Far - as was my brother as our attempts at seeing them over the years were almost as useless as our attempts at seeing The Wonder Years used to be.
For the first time in years we were in the doors and getting a drink having only missed one band and not all the supports. Sugary punk arrived in the form of Candy Hearts who had just started their surprisingly enjoyable set. I'd listened to one of their songs a couple years ago and I remember finding it kinda irritating but - what I'm assuming was their newer material - sounded great live and the crowd certainly seemed to agree with me.
Still celebrating the first birthday of their debut album, State Champs brought upbeat enthusiasm to the room with the nights' first mosh pits and crowd surfers. Having clearly read the manual on How To Be Pop-Punk they proved their place on the tour but mid-set chat showed their humble side. Having increased their fan base on The Wonder Years' tour back in May the room was louder with lyrics being shouted back and the bands' smiles wider.
The moment my brother had been waiting for - The Story So Far. I managed to catch them at Reading this year when they opened the main stage but my super fan brother was yet to see them live despite his desperation. Sound checking their own equipment I was pretty sure my brother was gonna pee himself when Parker Cannon came out in a parker and if the excited screams were enough to go by he wouldn't have been alone. The moment they broke into 'Empty Space' the full room attempted to occupy just the front two rows turning into security's worst nightmare. Staying on my own two feet was bloody difficult as the room surged around violently, trying to stay upright whilst aggressively fist pumping and bellowing the brilliantly angry lyrics with more bite than Parker himself. My brother - who without his glasses is near enough blind - got lost in the crush when a particularly large guy came bombing through my side of the room opening a gap for me to find him. In the smaller venue Parker lost his shyness from Reading and joked with the crowd and apart from the non-appearance of 'Mt. Diablo' the set was perfect with every TSSF song with a relatable, pissed off hook included.
Googling the set list pre-show I couldn't wait for New Found Glory as it really was supposed to be the best set list i've seen from them so with fingers crossed I waited. Sure enough the set was the same as what I'd seen online which saw them open with 'Understatement'- a sure way of drawing everyone into madness from the start. Playing a range of songs from across all albums and all eras of their 17 years as a band, the newer tracks, which could be accused of being wishy washy, sounded a lot better live and for me that's how they're meant to be heard.
One of the highlights was the third song in - 'Hold My Hand'. A completely infectious piano led track everyone had teethy grins and dimples the whole way through, the 'do do da doo's' deafening. This was a pop-punk dance party where fully grown adults became dorky twelve year olds for three minutes. A staple to their set is their fantastic cover of 'Kiss Me' which was like letting loose twelve year olds on a bouncy castle. Following on was 'Dressed To Kill' and 'Head On Collision' and the adults were back in their pits - mosh, not ball. Another stand out moment was when Cyrus' drums started 'The Story So Far'. There was a kind of disbelief in the crowd. Arms linked together and voices broke yelling 'and everything else is irrelevant to THE STORY SO FAR.'
Chad told us Jordan was going to cast a spell on us all to make the whole floor turn into a giant mosh pit and Chad was not wrong. Jordan stood on the box, swished his arm around and announced 'My Friends Over You' and in no less than a second the whole floor really was a mosh pit. Their encore consisted of rarely played Sticks And Stones tracks 'Sonny' and 'Forget My Name' before closing this pop-punk fest with 'All Downhill From Here'. They might have been a band for 17 years but see these guys live and they just keep on delivering fantastic show after fantastic show having more fun every time I see them.
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