A Review

1. New Found Glory
with 2. Bayside, 3. Set Your Goals, 4. Shai Hulud
April 4th
Gothic Theater
Doors 6:30

It's tough to get excited about a show these days. Government grants and small business loans have given every two-bit hustler the funds to start up a music label. These inconsistent labels gain the empowerment to sign the musically impaired, package them with a pretty black and red bow and ship them off to the eager emo bangs waiting at the hippest, most-independent record store in town. "For fans of Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Boys Night Out and Fall Out Boy" functions as a deft warning to the keen observer of the human condition; but most of these impressionable youths shell out the 16.99 for what turns out to be mostly pomp and circumstance. Thank God for the bands who just play because they love music.
New Found Glory has always maintained street credibility as a band who love punk music but want to make it a little more fun. They dont hide behind fashion or motifs, but rather assault the stage with the kind of honesty and kindness that only many years in this business can bring. With the release of International Superheroes of Hardcore last year, they proved that irony and humor are much more precise and difficult than just growing that hilariously ironic magnum P.I. moustache all the scenesters are sporting these days. They provided deft commentary about the lack of definition between real musicians and teenagers with pro tools, between "emo" and emotive, driving music. Basically, they provided what they always have; fun, provocative pop music written and played by punks and hardcore kids.
With their release of Mutiny last year, Set Your Goals placed themselves atop the pack. With much more talent and creativity than many of their competitors, they have crafted a very specific sound that incorporates many of the best elements of punk and hardcore music into melodic overtures. They may draw the black hair dye and uneccessarily utilized hooded sweatshirts that infect local venues these days, but that could be a good thing. A show like this would be a great chance for exposure to some of the cornerstones of the genre. After all, these emo kids are tomorrow's music critics. Bayside brings vibrant authenticity to an all too common equation of the exhuberance of youth and ignorance; but while most bands come off as overwrought, these guys manage to transcend the stereotype and create impressive songs. All the melodies and pop punk fun will come as relief after Shai Hulud takes the stage and totally destroys. Somehow, having such a seminal and authentic hardcore band tour with these three gives more creedence the affair overall.
Some of what happens at the Gothic theater will most likely be forgettable, and I'm certain the requisite chest-popping bad boys will try to so totally rule over the tiny waifs with flattened bangs. What makes this show more than essential viewing is the wide variety of talent in what is quickly becoming a music scene ruled by fashion rather than substance. Every one of these bands is singularly admirable in the fact that they actually love the music. And, although it seems strange to say out loud, not many bands actually worry too much about the music these days.