In celebration of the ten year anniversary of New Found Glory’s self-titled album, the Floridian five-piece set their sights on a two month tour of the United States, playing the album from start to finish each night. Joined by Saves the Day, hellogoodbye, and Fireworks, the tour stopped at the 1200-person Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza on a Thursday evening.
Playing in New York City for the first time in their four year career, Fireworks kicked the show off at 7:30. Sticking almost exclusively to their debut full-length, All I Have to Offer is My Own Confusion, the Detroit natives played well to a very receptive crowd. The band’s blend of punk-pop is enjoyable in a live setting, with older, faster cuts like “From Mountain Movers to Lazy Losers” that really hit hard. It’s unfortunate that the band’s Triple Crown Records debut is so boring, over-produced, and lifeless; the Fireworks’s live performance shows a gritty punk-pop band with soul and heart. The full half-hour setlist:
Geography, Vonnegut And Me
I Support Same Sex Marriage
Show Me Your Vanishing Act One More Time
Closet Weather
Come Around
From Mountain Movers to Lazy Losers
When We Stand On Each Other We Block Out The Sun
Detroit
hellogoodbye
In complete contrast to the opening act, hellogoodbye was bland, uninspired, and generally disappointing during their thirty-minute set. Lip-synced vocals (“All Time Lows”) and cheesy power-pop felt remarkably out of place on a bill of solid punk-pop acts. The band stumbled through most of their setlist, showing promise just twice: the mandolin-powered “When We First Met” and the slick “Finding Something to Do”, both new, unreleased songs that hint at a band ready to turn a corner and finally release an album of substance. The eight song set:
All Time Lows
Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn
When We First Met
Baby It’s a Fact
Dear Jamie… Sincerely Me
Finding Something to Do
Oh It’s Love
Here In Your Arms
Saves the Day
New Jersey natives Saves the Day provided direct support, beginning with Through Being Cool opener “All-Star Me”, the first of four tracks from the excellent 1999 album. Led by Chris Conley’s unmistakable nasally vocals, the four-piece embraced the throw-back atmosphere of the evening and crafted a setlist weighted on the band’s oldest material, including rare cuts such as “Sell My Old Clothes, I’m Off to Heaven”. Saves the Day selected some of the better songs from their newer albums, as well, including “Eulogy” and “The End” from 2006′s Sound the Alarm, the band’s strongest album since the essential Stay What You Are, released at the beginning of the decade.
Saves the Day
Staples such as “Rocks Tonic Juice Magic” and “At Your Funeral” were complete-crowd singalongs, with Saves the Day newcomers guitarist Arun Bali, bassist Rodrigo Palma, and drummer Spencer Peterson clearly enjoying the songs as much as anyone in the crowd; New Found Glory’s Jordan Pundik joined the band in rocking out for fan-favorite “Shoulder to the Wheel”. Saves the Day disappointingly closed with the newer, slower “Kaleidoscope”, dismantling the energy the band had built across the last half of their set, ending with not a bang, but a whimper. The fifteen-song set:
All-Star Me
The End
Radio
Anywhere With You
Firefly
Holly Hox, Forget Me Nots
Can’t Stay the Same
Eulogy
Freakish
Driving in the Dark
Sell My Old Clothes, I’m Off to Heaven
Rocks Tonic Juice Magic
At Your Funeral
Shoulder to the Wheel
Kaleidoscope
New Found Glory
While Saves the Day certainly received a terrific crowd response, New Found Glory predictably blew the roof off of Irving Plaza. From New Found Glory track one, “Better Off Dead”, until track twelve, the entire audience sang along to every word out of vocalist Jordan Pundik’s mouth. Many of the night’s songs such as “Second to Last” and “Eyesore” were special treats, rarely seen on standard New Found Glory tours. Before finishing their self-titled album — about a forty minute set on its own — the band dedicated closer “Ballad for the Lost Romantics” to tourmates Saves the Day and to New York punks H2O, encouraging the crowd to catch the latter’s fifteen year anniversary shows scheduled for the coming weekend.
New Found Glory
Following a slight break, New Found Glory returned with a varied collection of eight more songs to stack onto the night’s set. Sticks and Stones opener “Understatement” began the singles-filled encore that also included hits such as “Head On Collision” and “It’s All Downhill From Here”. An exciting cover of local hardcore legends, Gorilla Biscuits, was appropriate and well-received by the older portion of the crowd. The penultimate “Intro” preceded the band’s biggest song to date, 2002′s “My Friends Over You”. The twenty-song setlist:
Better Off Dead
Dressed To Kill
Sincerely Me
Hit or Miss
Second To Last
Eyesore
Vegas
Sucker
Black and Blue
Boy Crazy
All About Her
Ballad For the Lost Romantics
Understatement
It’s All Downhill from Here
Head on Collision
Don’t Let Her Pull You Down
Truck Stop Blues
No Reason Why (Gorilla Biscuits cover)
Intro
My Friends Over You
Overlooking very minor missteps, such hellogoodbye’s inclusion on such an otherwise solid bill, New Found Glory’s stop in New York City was truly excellent. Saves the Day contributed to the night’s retro-feel by sticking to a set heavy in decade-old songs, and Fireworks proved that there are still worthwhile up-and-coming punk-pop acts to look forward to. New Found Glory’s execution of older material was flawless, and the relatively long encore of fan-favorites iced an already sweet cake. Other bands considering the ten-year album anniversary tour would do well to take notes from both New Found Glory’s supporting act selection and encore bonus song selection.
All photographs by the excellent Meghan McInnis.
Posted by Anthony Charles Ambrose 
