New Found Glory, Something Corporate in NYC, a Review and Rant in equal parts
Published November 13, 2002
Ahh, the Roseland Ballroom, corporate promotion at its finest. It holds over 3000 eager ticket holders, has a VIP seating area (a second stage), an upstairs, several bars, and a relatively crappy sound system. This, my friends, is where I went tonight to see New Found Glory; pop-punk's finest, pride of Drive Thru Records, and MTV darlings.
Doors were at 7, I arrived shortly before 6 to see a thick line halfway around the block. I had to walk along it purely for the zoological voyeurism of it all. I felt like the crocodile Hunter, discovering exactly the species I was expecting: The 14 Year Old Mall Punk Female. Note her sparkly Adidas with custom starry laces, her pre-faded boot cut jeans from Express, and the cute top in the form of a Hot Topic band-tee or an old navy tank top. Outerwear is either a light denim jacket or a hoodie, the latter being so much more hard-core. Hair was done up even cuter, often with glitter, sometimes even (gasp!) dyed.
Males of the variety were strangely similar, and bore a striking resemblance to members of Blink 182; short, gelled hair, colorful tshirts advertising either a band or skate/surf company, and jeans or khakis of the not-fitting variety. Studded belts (two, not three like those poseurs) were a must, along with a dark hoodie. It is necessary to point out that 80% of the crowd fit this description and was between the ages of 13 and 17. It was the most frightening event of my life.
The high point were the really "punk" girls who hated the lame "preppy" girls for "ruining their scene." These rebels wore their attitude in their mucho-oversized JNCO's and way cool dyed knotted up hair. Ian Mackaye was not as punk as these rebels.
But enough about the super cool kids about the show. The tour going around now is New Found Glory (Drive-thru), Something Corporate (Drive-thru), Finch (Drive-thru) and Further Seems Forever (tooth and nail). Only slightly ironically, New Found Glory and Further both boast an ex-member of Shai Hulud, instantly making this tour a tiny bit cooler. FSF, however, was off the tour this night, possibly because they're just not MTV friendly enough to play this close to Times Square.
After waiting in line for over an hour, I got inside at about 7:15. I ended up about 8 meters from the stage, with a decent vantage point of the horde of 14 year olds in a massive simultaneous ovulation in preparation for the bands.
Finch started the show to a moderately good response. I might almost like this band if they weren't on such a terrible record label. Scratch that. I can't stand this band. Finch plays a terrible mix of pop-punk and hard core. I simply can't deal with it. Stage presence was good, I'll give them that, but the singer's scream works about as well live as on recording, which is not well at all. I simply can't deal with the dynamic of pseudo hardcore and bad pop. That's the thing, I like pop. I love great, catchy songs, but Finch doesn't play them.
- New Found Glory, Something Corporate in NYC, a Review and Rant in equal parts
- Published: November 13, 2002
- Type:
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Alternative Rock, Music: Rock
- Writer: Craig Kleemann
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Comments on this articleComments
sadd sassdddd review. sad.ifeel "mad" sad about you name dropping, dude. scratch that. mad. scratch. mad. scratch.
yeah, it wasn't written originally for this site, so it presupposes some stuff. what name dropping? i'm afraid i don't understand. email me if you read this.
Nice review man, i think that's a great way of seeing it, it sucks to know that a show you used to go with and share with couple of hundred kids is now just another prom queen and king night out show. The more I saw that in punk the more I got away from it, the more I liked hardcore and even metal. And its not only on poppunk. I wouldnt imagine SAS and Thrice where on mtv tomorrow night, it would feel like they were fake all along, like they sold out. So i understand all the kids that used to like NFG when all they had where some songs on mp3.com. Maybe cause i was one of them.
Finch is one of the greatest bands that I've ever heard and I support them on their way to the top. It's really hard today to keep your music having a unique sound and style, but they do just that. That is why they have so many supportive fans.
you forgot to mention how finch put on a horrible show as well as all the other band. something corporate did a good job here, the guy danced on the piano and told his stories of sayin goodnight houston! when he was in dallas..it was fun to make fun of the teeny boppers in their i love jordan, jordan is hot shirts though. what pissed me off the most is when im the middle of the "most pit" and mr.jock football player is right next to me..thats when you know the show isn't the same..the night sucked incredibly..i would've rather stayed at home watching tv
Hey guys. I'm a soldier currently in Iraq. I was just looking for a good website to buy drive thru record band tshirts from. The Used, New Found Glory, The Early November, ect. Please email me for a will not remember this website I have just stumbled on. Thank you.
Both these bands suck and are derivative, rip-off 4th wave pop-punk bands (along with Good Charlotte and Sum 41) who steal riffs from Green Day, Jawbreaker, Blink, and Screeching Weasel without the songwriting skills or talent. I'm a bit surprised that you were surprised at their fan base -- none of their fans are punks. If you've ever heard of jock-punk or mall-punk, these bands are the very definition, especially now that the bands with more street cred, integrity and talent in the silly pop-punk genre like Blink 182 have sort of given up their legacy.
Say what you will about Blink, but they were young guys who had the right influences as a band and wrote good, catchy pop-punk tunes. The others of their generation just steal, rip off, do bad raps, date teen actresses, and pose in videos because they're poseurs.
It's interesting to see that even Green Day has found a new popularity and resurgence among teenaged and pre-teen girls.
Even the name Something Corporate reeks of unctuously mindless sarcasm without any real content.
That is all.
hey i love both SOMETHING CORPRATE and NEW FOUND GLORY i just finished listening to i woke up in a car by something corprate on www.gotuit.com
and new found glory.. ya'll are just great* all the way around...unfortunately.. i have had the chance to see them in nyc.. but some day soon... well keep up the good work guys...you guyz are
WONDERFULL!!!!
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Something Corporate sounds interesting...
I saw NFG on Carson Daily early this morning. I was not really impressed.
But then, I'm biased... I hate just about 100% of pop "punk".
heh.
Further Seems Forever would have actually been a good show, had they not been canciled.
peace.