Images: New Found Glory, Alkaline Trio, H2O October 25, 2013 at the House of Blues

I’ve been going to shows for more than half my life now but I never really felt old until the announcement that New Found Glory and Alkaline Trio would be joining forces for a co-headlining tour. The press for the shows focused heavily on the nostalgia factor, recalling an era when Drive Thru and Vagrant Records were kings. But in my mind it doesn’t seem possible that we’re so far removed from that post-Blink, turn of the millennium era when a pop punk could sell out the House of Blues or, in New Found Glory’s case, the Thomas and Mack, on their own. I skipped my high school reunion for a show but seeing as how I also skipped most high school milestones (i.e. Prom) for shows, this show, which also featured H2O, would act as my reunion of sorts, as the crowd was made up of many familiar faces I hadn’t seen in years.

New York’s H2O were the first band to take the stage for the night. H2O and New Found Glory have a long history – H2O was one of the very first bands to take NFG on tour when they were just getting their toes wet, and NFG returned the favor a few years later by bringing H2O along for their Sticks and Stones tour with Thrice and RX Bandits. When the beloved New York hardcore band took the stage, the House of Blues was still in the process of filling up, but there were quite a few fans already in the mix, eager to sing along with tracks like the inspirational “One Life One Chance” and gritty “Guilty by Association.” Vocalist Toby Morse took a count of how many in the audience own the band’s self-titled debut (13) and had us all sing along to the iconic “My friends look out for me like family…” opening of “5 Year Plan,” with Morse diving into the pit to let the audience take over singing. The highlight of their set was finally getting to hear Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba sing his verse on H2O’s anthem of modern punk’s lament “What Happened?” It’s probably my favorite H2O song and Skiba nailed it live.

From what I understand of this co-headlining tour, Alkaline Trio and New Found Glory have been swapping out who closes, and for us, that meant Matt, Dan and Derek were spooky, punk rock meat in the middle of a hardcore-influenced pop punk sandwich. Before the tour, the Chicago-based threesome took to Facebook to have fans vote on what songs they wanted to hear live. I love when long-running bands do this – it’s a good way to get them to dig deep into their extensive catalogue for choice cuts that don’t get much love on their regular setlists. Set-ender “This Could Be Love” was arguably the most common song to be played, which meant most of the old standbys, like “Radio” and “Private Eye” were absent. I was beyond stoked to hear “Calling All Skeletons” from their often overlooked Agony & Irony disk and my Good Mourning favorite ”Every Thug Needs a Lady,” with Dan Andriano’s croon echoing over the small pit that formed for the midtempo tale of love. Andriano and Skiba, who were decked out in matching Alkaline Trio letterman’s jackets, both sounded great, and their harmonies on tracks like “Queen of Pain” from the band’s split with Hot Water Music and Crimson’s “Sadie” were spot on. During their set, I noticed a few of punk rock’s biggest stars – including NOFX frontman Fat Mike, and Youth Brigade and Punk Rock Bowling founders Shawn and Mark Stern  – standing side stage singing along. Apparently they were in town for the Mediocre Golf Association championship (these dudes really love their punk rock sports leagues) but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this leads to Alkaline Trio’s triumphant return to PRB next year.

I’m just ever so slightly a bigger Alkaline Trio fan than New Found Glory, but I think it would be hard to argue against the fact that NFG puts on a better live show. They’ve got more energy than the stage can contain, which means we’re always treated to copious jumps and leaps into the crowd. The Florida band didn’t do a set of complete deep cuts akin to their tourmates but they did dig a little deeper than their last few non-full album shows out here. I was particularly thrilled to finally hear Coming Home tracks “It’s Not Your Fault” and “Hold My Hand” live again. Hopefully the warm response and big singalong convinces the band to revisit that album more often. Two songs from their From the Screen to Your Stereo series made it into the night’s set – “Kiss Me” and “Don’t Want to Miss A Thing.” They’re not my favorite of the band’s covers – I would have preferred some Karate Kid and Pretty Woman action – but they were fun nonetheless. While their biggest hits “My Friends Over You” and “Hit or Miss” got the biggest responses (the latter once again finding vocalist Jordan Pundik up against the barrier for communal singalong), I was happy to hear newish tracks “Truck Stop Blues” and “Don’t Let Her Pull You Down” again. Since NFG had the closing spot this night it also meant that they got the encore so we got two bonus songs – Sticks and Stones closer “The Story So Far” and Catalyst’s youth crew influenced “Intro.”

If I had any complaint, it’s that the band continues to ignore my favorite record of theirs Nothing Gold Can Stay. I would kill to hear “You’ve Got a Friend in Pennsylvania” and “Passing Time,” but I guess I’ll have to wait until the album’s 20 year anniversary in 2019.

-Emily Matview | https://www.flickr.com/photos/holdfastnow/

New Found Glory setlist:

All Downhill from Here
Don’t Let Her Pull You Down
It’s Not Your Fault
Understatement
Truth of My Youth
Sucker
I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing (Aerosmith cover)
Connect the Dots
Radiosurgery
Hit or Miss
Kiss Me (Sixpence None the Richer cover)
Listen to Your Friends
Forget My Name
Anthem for the Unwanted
Truck Stop Blues
Dressed to Kill
Failure’s Not Flattering
Hold My Hand
Head On Collision
My Friends Over You

Encore:
The Story So Far
Intro

Alkaline Trio setlist:

Cringe
Take Lots with Alcohol
Warbrain
I Found Away
I Wanna Be a Warhol
My Standard Break from Life
Kiss You to Death
Help Me
Time to Waste
Queen of Pain
Every Thug Needs a Lady
Calling All Skeletons
Dead and Broken
Sadie
I Lied My Face Off
Young Lovers
This Could Be Love