I have lost count of my April gigs now
Last night I escorted my little brother to a Good Charlotte show, while I had a pretty major headcold. Given how monumentally awful I felt by the time we got there, saying that it exceeded my expectations doesn't sound like much of a compliment, but it was a bit of fun.
We arrived before doors opened so got a pretty good spot seated on the floor, right in the middle, about seven people deep. The pit was mostly younger fans and I spent most of my time trying to keep from either laughing at them or elbowing them in the ribs. I don't want to tar all teenage music fans with the idiot brush, because many of the ones I spoke to were lovely, but many are adorably pretentious ("I remember when Short Stack had integrity") or just jerks. You are not entitled to a spot on the barrier just because you want one, kids, and if you didn't turn up early to grab one then you don't get to pull other kids off. Jeez.
One of the saving graces was that that Rod Laver had a great playlist between sets; singing along to 'American Idiot' with everyone else was lovely. It was also a relief to find that although it was my little brother's first mosh experience, he was completely capable of standing his ground. Aside from telling him to look out for people smaller than him (ie almost everyone) I could leave him to fend for himself.
The first band was originally going to be Boys Like Girls, but they pulled out and were replaced by New Empire from Sydney. I was originally disappointed, but New Empire turned out to be quite interesting. Despite being a no-name baby band from Sydney, their songs sound like they were meant to be played in stadiums rather than pubs. It reminded me of 30 Seconds To Mars' most recent songs. They threw in a Kanye West cover, too. Ego much? The bassist was playing with a bow at one point, which I thought was cool. (It was easy to spot the slashers in the audience from the squeals when the keyboardist strapped the singer's guitar on for him. Don't think I didn't notice, you.)
But what I was most looking forward to from this night was Short Stack being over-earnest and bringing the unintentional lols, and they didn't disappoint. They seem to aiming for a more Cobra Starship vibe than an MCR one these days, but either way, I'm sure Gerard and Gabe would both approve of Andy's whole... thing. He's stopped playing guitar so that he can prowl around the stage with the microphone in one hand and twirling the stand like a cane in the other. Plus he says things like "Remember when we were all emo and I had that stupid hair?" then draws attention to the tightness of his pants by blatantly stroking his crotch. Like I said, Gabe and Gerard would both approve. There was also guitar-licking, stripping and "The first album I ever bought was Good Charlotte!" fanboying. I can only boggle at the teenie who said they've lost their stage presence and gotten all about business.
So, well, Good Charlotte. I expected to get bored and leave the pit as soon as they came on but they opened with 'Anthem' and I thought hell, why not, I can afford to be the teenage Meg again for a little while, so I jumped and shouted along and forgot myself for a moment. It was genuinely lovely. Then I did get bored and the sixteen-year-old girl next to me almost fainted so I waved to my brother and helped the girl out to get water. Then I remembered that I had a cold, felt like shit, and spent the rest of the show hanging out at the side barrier with the cool mums, who made me drink lots of water.
As for the actual performance, well, I have heard stories about the Maddens but I never expected them to be such HAMS. Every single thing they said was SO CORNY. They should win an Anna Coren award for overwrought segues. "I love Melbourne! I love all your Australian accents? You know what they sound like? They sound like Sex on the Radio!" I don't think they could have fit in any more references to loving Australia if they tried. In a distant, head-cold-y way, though, I could generally sit back and enjoy it as an over-the-top rock show; I knew most of the songs either from learning to play them in high school or just by osmosis, so it was familiar enough.
My favourite part of the night by far was when Joel screwed up his one guitar solo for the entire night, and then said "Sorry I stuffed that up. It's just I heard that Chris Cheney from the Living End might be coming tonight and I got nervous because I love him so much."
As ladyfoxxx suggested (with disclaimer that I just picked a photo off Google Images and don't actually know GC well enough to verify whether this is actually a Madden)
Now Chris Cheney has to go visit the Maddens on their farm with Pete and Jack Barakat.
We arrived before doors opened so got a pretty good spot seated on the floor, right in the middle, about seven people deep. The pit was mostly younger fans and I spent most of my time trying to keep from either laughing at them or elbowing them in the ribs. I don't want to tar all teenage music fans with the idiot brush, because many of the ones I spoke to were lovely, but many are adorably pretentious ("I remember when Short Stack had integrity") or just jerks. You are not entitled to a spot on the barrier just because you want one, kids, and if you didn't turn up early to grab one then you don't get to pull other kids off. Jeez.
One of the saving graces was that that Rod Laver had a great playlist between sets; singing along to 'American Idiot' with everyone else was lovely. It was also a relief to find that although it was my little brother's first mosh experience, he was completely capable of standing his ground. Aside from telling him to look out for people smaller than him (ie almost everyone) I could leave him to fend for himself.
The first band was originally going to be Boys Like Girls, but they pulled out and were replaced by New Empire from Sydney. I was originally disappointed, but New Empire turned out to be quite interesting. Despite being a no-name baby band from Sydney, their songs sound like they were meant to be played in stadiums rather than pubs. It reminded me of 30 Seconds To Mars' most recent songs. They threw in a Kanye West cover, too. Ego much? The bassist was playing with a bow at one point, which I thought was cool. (It was easy to spot the slashers in the audience from the squeals when the keyboardist strapped the singer's guitar on for him. Don't think I didn't notice, you.)
But what I was most looking forward to from this night was Short Stack being over-earnest and bringing the unintentional lols, and they didn't disappoint. They seem to aiming for a more Cobra Starship vibe than an MCR one these days, but either way, I'm sure Gerard and Gabe would both approve of Andy's whole... thing. He's stopped playing guitar so that he can prowl around the stage with the microphone in one hand and twirling the stand like a cane in the other. Plus he says things like "Remember when we were all emo and I had that stupid hair?" then draws attention to the tightness of his pants by blatantly stroking his crotch. Like I said, Gabe and Gerard would both approve. There was also guitar-licking, stripping and "The first album I ever bought was Good Charlotte!" fanboying. I can only boggle at the teenie who said they've lost their stage presence and gotten all about business.
So, well, Good Charlotte. I expected to get bored and leave the pit as soon as they came on but they opened with 'Anthem' and I thought hell, why not, I can afford to be the teenage Meg again for a little while, so I jumped and shouted along and forgot myself for a moment. It was genuinely lovely. Then I did get bored and the sixteen-year-old girl next to me almost fainted so I waved to my brother and helped the girl out to get water. Then I remembered that I had a cold, felt like shit, and spent the rest of the show hanging out at the side barrier with the cool mums, who made me drink lots of water.
As for the actual performance, well, I have heard stories about the Maddens but I never expected them to be such HAMS. Every single thing they said was SO CORNY. They should win an Anna Coren award for overwrought segues. "I love Melbourne! I love all your Australian accents? You know what they sound like? They sound like Sex on the Radio!" I don't think they could have fit in any more references to loving Australia if they tried. In a distant, head-cold-y way, though, I could generally sit back and enjoy it as an over-the-top rock show; I knew most of the songs either from learning to play them in high school or just by osmosis, so it was familiar enough.
My favourite part of the night by far was when Joel screwed up his one guitar solo for the entire night, and then said "Sorry I stuffed that up. It's just I heard that Chris Cheney from the Living End might be coming tonight and I got nervous because I love him so much."
As ladyfoxxx suggested (with disclaimer that I just picked a photo off Google Images and don't actually know GC well enough to verify whether this is actually a Madden)
Now Chris Cheney has to go visit the Maddens on their farm with Pete and Jack Barakat.