Oct 6, 2021

Pop-Punk's Still Not Dead Tour (A Parent's Perspective) Show Review

Like many of the great tours announced once the world opened its doors back up after the COVID-19 pandemic, many unforeseen events occurred including a lot of rescheduling and cancelations due to the sheer gravity of the situation.

In early 2020, New Found Glory announced the Pop-Punk's Still Not Dead Tour which originally featured Simple Plan and, Knuckle Puck which was announced right after the release of NFG's latest studio album "FOREVER AND EVER X INFINITY."

But as the tour got closer to kick-off, Simple Plan made the cautious decision to drop off which was soon replaced by ska-punk legends Less Than Jake as well as Hot Mulligan and LOLO. The tour which was originally set to start on May 29th in St. Petersburg, Florida was pushed to August 31st in Dallas Texas.

Tuesday, September 28th, 2021. The Pop-Punk's Still Not Dead Tour rolled into the city of Pittsburgh, PA at Stage AE's concert venue. Stage AE is a unique indoor/outdoor concert venue and the second of its kind in America with its predecessor being the EXPRESS LIVE! venue in Columbus OH. The outside venue itself has that "concert festival vibe" featuring a lawn/grass area followed by seating and then a pit area upfront for the more adventurous type.

At around 7:00PM the show kicked off with opening act LOLO who played an energetic 8 song set including tracks "Dear First Love,", "hate u", as well as a rendition of Wheatus' "Teenage Dirtbag" and tracks off of their latest EP "u look stupid" with songs "death wish" and title track "u look stupid" which just dropped as a single/music video a few days ago.

After a brief intermission, Michigan midwestern emo/ pop-punk band Hot Mulligan took the stage for an emotional set of songs including tracks from their latest 2020 album "you'll be fine" "OG Blue Sky" and "*Equip Sunglasses*" where every band member promptly equipped said sunglasses to their track "Featuring Mark Hoppus" which sadly, didn't feature Mark Hoppus and closed out with "How Do You Know It's Not Armadillo Shells".

As the sun laid to rest on the southwestern Pennsylvania venue, Less Than Jake took the stage to an eager Pittsburgh audience. The near 30-year punk rock veterans entered the stage to the Back To The Future theme song and wasted no time getting to work opening up with "Lie To Me" from the band's latest 2020 album Silver Linings then blast off into fan favorite "Johnny Quest Thinks We're Sellouts".

LTJ has and always will be one of the most entertaining and energetic bands out there with their ability to combine heavy punk rock with ska while not to mention killing it with 3-part harmony, something that will always be my kryptonite all while putting on one hell of a live stage performance featuring toilet paper cannons, wacky inflatable arm flailing tube men and balloons with the band's name on it thrown throughout the crowd.

After a little bit of crowd banter and joking that "a Canadian band should be playing right now instead of us guys from Florida" in reference to original co-headliner Simple Plan, the band kicked off into a sea of crowd-popping fan favorites including "Look What Happened" and "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" from the band's 2003 album "Anthem" to "History of a Boring Town" while closing out with "All My Best Friends Are Metalheads" from Less Than Jake's 1998 album "Hello Rockview". LTJ thanked the fans and reminded them that in a few short days they would be back to Pittsburgh for Fat Mike's Punk In Drublic Festival.

New Found Glory took the stage to what can only be described as a carnival play setting for the band's onstage setup which featured bright neon ticket booths and signs that suggested the names of theme park/carnival rides which were directly taken from the band's latest album "Forever and Ever X Infinity...and Beyond". NFG kicked off like a bat out of hell with the opening track "Understatement" from the band's breakthrough 2002 album "Sticks and Stones" jumping right into "Truth of my Youth" from their Catalyst album.

Delivering the first cover song of the night, NFG dove into "King of Wishful Thinking" originally by "Go West", a classic fan favorite and jumped into a new song from the setlist "Greatest of All Time" from their 2021 album "Forever and Ever X Infinity" which would be one of two songs delivered from that album for the evening.

With as many hits that New Found Glory has from their nearly 25-year catalog as a band, every single song was a favorite for old and new NFG fans. The band made a quick mention to the 20th anniversary of their self-titled album where they delivered tracks "Sincerely Me" "Dressed To Kill" and "Hit or Miss" from the record and just a few short days later celebrated that anniversary by playing the album from front to back at the Brooklyn Steel in Brooklyn, NY on the Pop-Punk's Still Not Dead Tour.

After some crowd banter, NFG then invited out opening act LOLO to deliver an amazing pop-punk duet on NFG's "Vicious Love" from the band's Resurrection album which originally featured Paramore's, Haley Williams. The back half of the setlist were primarily singles with all being fan favorites like "Head On Collision" and "Failure's Not Flattering" and the second cover of the night "Kiss Me" originally by Sixpence None the Richer all before closing out with "Forget My Name" from Sticks and Stones.

After a small intermission and the ever-so-popular crowd chant "One More Song" the band emerged back on stage to play the third and final cover of the night "Let It Go", yes that one from Disney's Frozen movie soundtrack as well as from the band's third cover album, 2019's "From The Screen To Your Stereo 3". New Found Glory thanked fans for coming out during these troubling times and unloaded one final song as fans erupted to "My Friends Over You" from their Sticks and Stones album.

After an hour-long set, New Found Glory exited the carnival-themed stage with confetti and popped balloons from Less Than Jake's previous set strew throughout the Pittsburgh venue grounds, proving that as the title suggests Pop-Punk's Still Not Dead, and in my eyes will never die.

New Found Glory and Less Than Jake are still on the Pop-Punk's Still Not Dead Tour with LOLO and Hot Mulligan.

Check out tour dates, photo gallery and highlights below!

Tour Dates: 10/06 – Worcester, MA @ The Palladium 10/08 – New York, NY @ The Rooftop at Pier 17 10/09 – Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live 10/10 – Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz 10/12 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade 10/14 – St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Live 10/15 – Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution 10/16 – Lake Buena Vista, FL @ House of Blues 10/17 – Lake Buena Vista, FL @ House of Blues