NFG & Cartel
As Mike said, I went to see New Found Glory and Cartel on Wednesday night. The show was at Avalon - all ages show too. I used to love those when I was under 18. Now I wish every show was 21+ just to keep out the obnoxious teenagers.
Anyway…a band called Hit The Lights opened the show. They were pretty good too. Cartel followed and was awesome. I’ve been looking forward to seeing them for awhile now. Trish was 100% right a year ago when she said she found a band I’d love. I only wish I had taken her advice and checked out their CD a year ago rather than four months ago. They played their cover of Oasis’ “Wonderwall” and tracks from their CD. “Minstrel’s Prayer” was awesome. They brought out Sirus from NFG and some other guy (who I assume was from Early November) to play drums in addition to their drummer. Super-loud and super-awesome.
After Cartel we headed to the merch table where there was a sign that said “Meet the Artist” and it had the Cartel CD and the Hit the Lights CD on it. It was misleading, however, because only Hit The Lights was there. You could buy the autographed Cartel CD though…like that’s the important part of meeting a band, the signature. It’s not the thrill of meeting one of your favorite musicians or anything. Stupid people. We took awkward pictures* of Trish with the guys from Hit The Lights.
The Early November was the next band up. I only remember knowing one of their songs, so Trish and I hung out in the bathroom. No lie. If you’ve ever seen the bathroom at Avalon, you know why. If not…it’s more of a lounge with stalls than a typical bathroom. Couches, funky lighting, a bar (complete with gay male bartender) and the best part: air conditioning. All those sweaty moshers were making the entire club humid, and the bathroom was the only place to escape the heat.
As soon as the Early November finished, we headed back towards the stage. Found a place we thought was good. That turned out to be a terrible mistake as soon as NFG started, as it was the passageway most crowsurfers took to dive into the crowd. We relocated and enjoyed the rest of the show. I forgot how much I loved New Found Glory. They were one of my favorite bands throughout high school and freshmen year of college. Then they just dropped off my radar until we bought tickets and I picked up their latest cd (which is AWESOME, by the way).
They played a mix of old stuff and new stuff that was perfectly balanced. Most of my favorites were in there: “Boy Crazy”, “Coming Home” (the title track of their new album), and the cover of the song from the Karate Kid movies. Overall, as great a show as I remember them putting on 6 years ago. Even better: it was being filmed for another DVD. I have their first one - quality stuff.
They said they’ll be back in January at Avalon with “another popular band”. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for tickets.
* Trish’s awkward pictures are notorious…pictures of her with musicians, comedians, etc. making the sign for “awkward” in American Sign Language
Filed under: Everyday Life, Music