Good Charlotte

On the approach to Rock City, it was impossible not to notice the Herculean queue of people waiting to get into this gig. Tickets for Good Charlottes gig had sold out many months ago, and so as you would expect there were touts galore just waiting to prey on desperate fans wanting to see Good Charlotte live. One fan was so desperate that he parted with £50 just to get a ticket off a tout. No doubt about it, this band is one hell of a popular band.

Long before the band were due on stage, the venue was rammed to the rafters, which meant that we had to settle for a view from the very back of Rock City, which is still a pretty good view, but I am one o f those people that like to be able to see the whites of the eyes.

As the anticipation grew, there was an almost boy band atmosphere amongst the crowd, with their sparkling/flashing glow sticks, whistles and over the top goth-rock make up. The audience mainly consisted of teenagers, which at times was a nuisance because throughout the gig, the teenage girls were fainting at the sight of their rock icons.

As for the show itself, the band took ages to arrive on stage. One can only expect that this was due to technical problems rather than the band being awkward.


'The Anthem' was the opening song for tonight's gig, and immediately the entire dance floor became one huge sea of hysterical teenagers jumping up and down along to the every single beat of the drum.

Frontman Joel Madden knows how to command an audience and keep them interested throughout every second of the show, he bounces around on stage like a man possessed by the devil, and he comes across as genuinely loving being up there on the stage.

Good Charlotte have only had two albums- 'The Young And The Hopeless' and more recently 'The Chronicles Of Life And Death'. Good Charlotte managed to pick the best tracks from each album to create an impressive set list. Which catered for just about every one.

If you liked the fast, furious punk rock tracks- well there were plenty of those. If its new material then there were lot's of tracks to please the fans such as 'Walk Away', 'S.O.S', 'Ghost Of You', 'The World Is Black'.

They even slipped in a lot of their old stuff such as 'My Bloody Valentine', and 'The Young And The Hopeless'.

However it was their most popular hits that got the crowd all fired up and shouting their lungs out such as 'Girls And Boys' and 'Lifestyles of The Rich And Famous'.


This was a stunning show, the only little fault that I found was that Good Charlotte just did not seem genuine when speaking to the audience by saying things like 'If it wasn't for you fans we wouldn't be able to be here' or 'Nottingham you are the greatest place to play in', nobody believed it, as they all knew that Joel probably says exactly the same in every city which they tour in.

Apart from that, Good Charlotte are one of those bands that you must catch live. They are highly entertaining, they play great punk rock anthems, and even though most critics have never given Good Charlotte the same respect as they do to the punk rock giants Green Day, Sum 41, or Bowling For Soup. When it comes to playing live they are without a doubt up there with the best in the business!

A good all round solid gig!!

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.