Images: Yellowcard, What’s Eating Gilbert January 19, 2014 at Vinyl Las Vegas

It’s hard to imagine now that playing pop punk could turn you into a massive commercial success. But back in 2003, with Blink 182 and Fall Out Boy blaring from everyone’s radio, pop punk was big business. It was an era when bands like Saves the Day were filling up the House of Blues and New Found Glory could sell out the Thomas & Mack. It was a good time to be a pop punk band, and it was that was the year that Yellowcard, after years of relentlessly touring, caught fire with Ocean Avenue, a slice of summery fun that seemed to only exist in that time and place. And walking into Vinyl on Jan. 19, I was pleasantly surprised to see, or rather hear, the length the Hard Rock was going to to recreate that piece of music history. Over the loudspeakers blared a who’s who of early 2000s emo and pop punk, from Allister’s “Somewhere Down in Fullerton” to Brand New’s “The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows,” with the crowd – made up of a fairly even mix of twenty- and thirty-somethings reliving a youthful highlight, and teens decked out in A Day to Remember and All Time Low tour merch, all ready to see the Jacksonville pop punkers play their breakthrough album all the way through.

But first up was a band I was very excited to see live for the first time, What’s Eating Gilbert. The five piece, fronted by Candy Hearts producer Chad Gilbert (who I feel has been involved in at least one other big project), play a throwback style of pop/rock that answers the question “What would happen if Buddy Holly lived long enough to front a pop punk band.” Decked to the nines, the quintet played a healthy mix from their various 7”s, including “Thinking ‘Bout Her,” “I’ve Got You” and “Complaining,” as well as two covers – “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss),” which Gilbert said we’d recognize from our parent’s radio, and Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman,” which caused visions of Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne to smirk in my head. When it comes to originals, the band suffers slightly in the lyrical way but slays in the fun department. Each song comes equipped with a melody that encourages you to hum along, and a beat that forces you to dance. Though the bulk of the crowd was unfamiliar with the group, I didn’t see any grinless faces by the time their set ended.

As What’s Eating Gilbert cleared the stage, Yellowcard fans in the now sold-out Vinyl began forcing their way as close as possible to the stage to get the best spot to sing along with Ryan Key and crew. This brings about the one big problem I have with Vinyl; the improper use of a barricade. Aside from the selfish fact that having the barricade pushed all the way up against the stage eliminates its use as a photo pit, it also makes for unnecessarily squished front row fans, since a barrier in that spot has no give when people are shoving you from behind. But I digress.

While the ten year anniversary tour isn’t anything new, Yellowcard did bring their own spin on nostalgia, promising to play the album in a unique way – acoustic. I hadn’t listened to the acoustic reissue of the album yet, and I was expecting a much more stripped down, resolved take. So it was to my pleasant surprise when the band burst into OA opener and first single “Ways Away” that the new renditions were hardly distinguishable from the original versions. Yellowcard have always been more of a straightforward band, relying on their own skill rather than studio trickery, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that the acoustic tracks sound so on par with the originals.

The bulk of the set went as one would expect, with the album played in full and the audience singing loudest for singles “Ocean Avenue” and “Only One,” the latter blending new with old by inciting a mix of lighters and cell phones waving in the air. For me, the highlight was hearing my favorite Yellowcard song, the rambunctious “Life of a Salesman,” live for the first time in many years. The blistering pace is an ode to the bands that inspired Yellowcard, particularly No Use For A Name, while lyrics, detailing the special bond between a father and a son, were a huge breath of fresh air when it first debuted amidst a sea of nu-metal’s patriarchal dysfunction. It sounds just as good now as it did back then (and speaking of NUFAN, check out Yellowcard’s excellent rendition of “Already Won” from the recently released Tony Sly tribute here). Frontman Ryan Key was supposedly feeling sick, but the crowd picked up the slack on tracks like the aggressive “Breathing,” poppy “Miles Apart” and, well, everything from the 2003 classic. Key tried to save his voice with less banter between songs but did take the time to thank everyone for selling out the show with more than a hint of humble surprise and gratitude in his speech.

Most anniversary tours are a Delorean ride and a beer gut away from seeing the band play the record for the first time. It was smart of Yellowcard to go in a different direction with their anniversary tour. It wasn’t the 2003 tour and didn’t need to be.

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