With certain tours, you can just about guarantee the type of crowd attending, and the overall attitude. Seeing, A NEW FOUND GLORY, ALKALINE TRIO, SAVES THE DAY, and FACE TO FACE all on the same bill, you know that you are in for a big pop punk treat. High energy, emotional, poppy songs all the way around. It will either plant a smile on your face, or want to make you puke. Fortunately for me, I dig this kinda stuff. Audience analysis: A whole lot of young females, probably more than i’ve ever seen before at a show, and of course, plenty of “”bro’s,”" but no shortage of punkers either. I was chatting with a friend about how popular this kind of punk sound is among high school kids these days, and the conclusion that we came to was that this explosion is no different than 80s hair metal. It’s all about guys chasing girls, kids getting drunk or stoned, or both, or even more so, depressing love stories. The music may change styles, but the themes behind rock and roll never do. Now on to the music…

Rushing on stage about 10 minutes late were the ever growing in popularity, A NEW FOUND GLORY. This band’s appeal is so hard to ignore, it’s scary. When the music is stripped down to its minimum, you have pop punk with hardcore breakdowns, and fabulous emo style singing. Their singer has a great voice that always carries far above the music, and flows perfectly with the ever chunky guitar stylings. One of the band’s t-shirts describes their attitudes to a tee, as it reads, “”love is another word for regret.”" It didn’t take long for the crowd to open the dance floor up as bodies crashed with one another with every pounding on the drum kit. Unfortunately, NFG only played about 7 songs because of their late arrival, which was due to their merch guy getting caught shoplifting at a Sears in Virginia Beach. Ouch. (The band was not particularly happy about this incident). They did play all the crowd favorites though, including “”Hit or Miss,”" and “”Third and Long,”" and of course, a few covers to boot. With their next cd coming out on MCA records, and hitting stores September 26, it’s not hard to imagine these guys being on TRL in the next few months. Can someone say platinum???

With this tour being sponsored by Vagrant Records and Napster, the former portion of the tour geared up as the ALKALINE TRIO took the stage. Surprisingly, the crowd was very much into them, and seemed to know the lyrics to most of their songs. ALKALINE TRIO were somewhat the oddball on this tour, as their edgy, and gruff melodic punk style didn’t mesh too well with the poppy sappiness of the other bands, with the slight exception of FACE TO FACE. Regardless, I was very impressed by the tight rhythms expressed by these guys, and their ability to throw in fabulous hooks seemlessly into all their songs. The strongest asset of this band is their ability to throw two guys in front of the microphones and pull off some impressive oratory expositions. When ALKALINE TRIO slowed the pace down, and let the bass continue to roll on by, it was neat to see the way they work mood into their music. I can’t say that the 9:30 club crowd was doing backflips for them, but I’m sure that many people found a new band to like after their set.

With this being like my 4th time seeing SAVES THE DAY in the past year or so, I kinda new what to expect. No new songs, no crazy theatrics, and no bullshit – just fast punk rock. I know these guys have made many enemies, but I swear, it has to be out jealously. Even though their live act seems to be a bit formulaic, all of the band members truly enjoy themselves on stage. As I chatted with Chris (vocalist) after the show, he said to me, “”this is the best lifestyle for me right now, I love what we are doing so much.”" Playing mostly stuff off of “”Through Being Cool,”" the wide eyed crowd soaked up every minute of it, all to often leaving crowd surfers in the hands of those gentle (read: Hell’s Angels) bouncers. Ya know, I don’t care how many times I hear the song “”Holly Hox, Forget me Not,”" I can’t help but smile and enjoy the qualities of a great catchy song. SAVES THE DAY may not be out ridding the world of injustice, but have truly learned the essence of writing songs that get to the heart of their listeners. The floor action for this set was absolutely amazing – nobody getting hurt, but just massive amounts of inertia tossing people’s bodies like leaves in the strong fall breeze.

After three intense sets, I wasn’t sure everyone was going to stick around for FACE TO FACE, but with the longevity carried by such band, their fans were more than pumped up. From the opening chord during their hour long set, FACE TO FACE powered through song after song of catchy sing along. Trever Keith’s deep voice makes him sound like an elder statesmen of punk rock, always sounding wise and serious. Playing as only a three piece, FACE TO FACE showed no lack of charisma, or any gaps in their sound whatsover, with the exception of the backup yells, but the fans made up for the aberration quick enough. Trever worked the crowd hard all night, giving them the chance to participate as much as possible. Hearing practically everyone in attendace shout “”Just Go Away,”" was pretty awesome. FACE TO FACE are an interesting band in the sense that while constantly gaining popularity, and growing a larger fan base, they have never done anything to upset or alienate their original core fans who know them from their debut album on Fat Wreck Chords (with the slight exception of Ignorance is Bliss – but we just wrote that album off as the “”experimental”" one). I recommend picking up their new full length, “”Reactionary,”" as it displays what a true melodic punk record should sound like. Hard and fast at the right times, with smooth transcending vocals.

This is easily one of the best, if not the best tour going around the country now, and if you can get to it, it’s most definitely worth your while. After the show it was a crazy night for me, but it was all smiles while inside the club.