Images: New Found Glory, We Are the in Crowd, Fireworks, Better Off October 31, 2014 at Hard Rock Live

You know there’s something special about your band when your intro music – in this case American Civil War anthem “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” – can cause a 6 foot tall 30-something in a banana suit to start hard core dancing, inciting a pit that doesn’t let up over an hour+ set. But for fans of pop punk mainstays New Found Glory, this kind of devotion isn’t a surprise at all (and the banana suit is less surprising if you know it was Halloween).

After a brief interlude by comedian Eli Olsberg, who got to live his dream by crowdsurfing while telling a joke, NFG took the stage to a room that had just now become full. The band – playing as a four piece for the first time in Vegas – came out dressed to kill with cholesterol – as a cheeseburger, hot dog, taco and bacon strip – silly costumes for a band that has always had a sense of humor about themselves. The costumes also forced bassist Ian to play with his top covered for possibly the first time ever, his bare chest hidden beneath a layer of bacon.

They started their set with “Selfless,” the lead single from their latest release, Resurrection. It’s the perfect song to introduce the band, with the lyrics pledging to “never grow up a bitter dinosaur” and to “catch up on my sleep when I die.” Before playing new single “Ready and Willing,” guitarist Chad Gilbert urged fans to check out the song’s video on YouTube primarily for the lols in the comments section. Compared to many bands of their size and longevity, NFG have always made an effort to play a diverse setlist and this night was no different. “Oxygen,” the opener from the band’s unfairly-maligned masterpiece Coming Home found its way back into the set after a long absence, and it was nice hearing “47” from Not Without a Fight live again. Gilbert informed the crowd that vocalist Jordan Pundik was actually a wizard and was about to put a spell on us before launching into the band’s massive hit “My Friend’s Over You,” and Pundik found himself in the crowd for live mainstay “Hit or Miss,” sharing the mic with any who knew the words (which, of course, was all of us).

The highlight of New Found Glory’s set was when it came time to pick a winner for best costume. The band chose two little guys who skipped trick or treating and accompanied their parents dressed as Star Lord and Rocket Raccoon. Their prize? They were invited on stage to rock out to an impromptu cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” and in true metal fashion, the kids responded by throwing up the metal fingers and banging their heads. New Found Glory has played somewhere around 35 gigs in Vegas since forming 17 years ago, and they’re showing no signs of fatigue. Despite the fact that the lack of second guitar stood out on tracks like “Dressed to Kill” and “Sonny” the band actually played with more passion and vigor than I’ve seen since probably way back on the Coming Home tour.

We are the in Crowd, who seem to be perpetually in the direct support slot, did a good job working the at-this-point-not-quite-full crowd. Vocalist Tay Jardine, dressed as some sort of Thundercats-type character, is a born performer, trying her best to get people moving, while belting out favorites like “Dreaming Out Loud” and “Rumor Mill.” Jardine asked for a show of hands on who knew the band, every hand pointing up adorned with the big black X the Hard Rock uses to distinguish minors from adults. When she asked who hadn’t heard the band, it was all the barflies in the back’s turn to raise hands. Jardine said she was stoked to get the chance to meet all those people and would try her best to win them over, and I think she might have earned a few new fans. WATIC isn’t a band I listen to much on my own, but I’ve always appreciated their live show for moments like that.

I consider Fireworks to be one of the best of the current crop of pop punk bands (behind Mixtapes [RIP] and The Wonder Years). Vocalist David Mackinder has one of the best voices in the scene and was sounding like a more restrained Patrick Stump on mellow set opener “Oh, Common Life.” Songs from their sophomore album Gospel were the highlight of the set for me, and I didn’t mind singing “Arrows” as loud as possible, even if I was one of only two people doing so. Surprisingly, the only time the crowd really got going was during set ender “Detroit,” which comes from their Chad Gilbert-produced debut All I Have to Offer is My Own Confusion. The song is the most like NFG in their set so in that sense I can see why it has the most crossover appeal at this show, but I would have liked to see more people rocking out to their excellent later material.

In the unenviable position of first-up at an early show was emo band Better Off. Early or not, I was still surprised at how absolutely anemic the crowd was during their set, both in size and in enthusiasm. I got the impression that Better Off is the type of band that needs to feed off crowd energy to thrive and since the only interaction was a snippy comeback directed at an audience member’s strangely out of place question as to the band’s age, the set came off as kind of a disappointment. The vocals were strong and the guitarist knows how to shred, so hopefully I get the chance to see a better show from them in the future.

-Emily Matview

Photos by Hunter Wallace | https://www.flickr.com/photos/hunter_wallace/