New Found Glory Impresses At Cincinnati Show

“Pop punk’s not dead,” their fans cry. Perhaps not — it’s my favorite genre of music — and legendary quintet New Found Glory did its best to prove that at Cincinnati’s Bogart’s club Friday night.

With opening act H2O (who I did not get to see) and co-headliner Alkaline Trio, the venue was absolutely packed. Alkaline Trio roared through its set, delivering a high-energy performance quickly moving from one song to the next, and guitarist Matt Skiba only briefly broke to sip from a bottle of water and introduce songs to the crowd. The live sound mix was also slightly off, with the bass too loud and the vocals a little bit quiet, but the band was in top form. Although I’ve never actually sought out an Alkaline Trio show, this is the second time I’ve seen them play live, the first being Warped Tour 2010.

But we were waiting for the next act, and the crowd went nuts as the lights dimmed and New Found Glory launched into “All Downhill From Here.” The next hour was pure pop punk heaven, with Chad Gilbert and Jordan Pundik leading the band through hits like “Don’t Let Her Pull You Down,” “Dressed to Kill” and “My Friends Over You.” The band also played its new single “Connect the Dots,” which resulted in a louder-than-expected applause.

And just when we thought the show was over, the band returned to the stage to play my personal favorite New Found Glory song, “The Story so Far.” It was a kick-ass end to one of the most energetic pop punk shows I’ve ever seen. New Found Glory is proving that pop punk is still alive and well.

Thoughts On the ‘Marshall Mathers LP 2’

Eminem’s eighth album ‘Marshall Mathers LP II’ was released last Tuesday and according to Hits Daily Double, the album will top Billboards 200 chart tomorrow with around 792k copies sold. That total would make it the second highest opening week for any album this year. The first is ‘The 20/20 Experience’ by the great Justin Timberlake, which sold around 968k its first week. My favorite two artist are Eminem and Justin Timberlake, and both of their albums are phenomenal so I couldn’t be more excited that they stand atop the music industry this year.

As I just stated,  ‘Marshall Mathers LP II’ is another great album from Eminem. The album has a 75 on Metacritic which is pretty good. So I loved the album and it’s getting mostly good reviews from critics, but what do other people think about it? Click on the Storify link below to get the answer to that question. (Note: Anyone who says they don’t like the album clearly doesn’t know what they’re talking about).

blink-182 To Play At Blizzcon

World of Warcraft and Diablo developer Blizzard Entertainment have announced that pop-punk legends (and my favorite band) blink-182 will be ending popular event Blizzcon this year. The show begins this Friday and ends with the concert the following night.

Blink-182 — or at last co-frontman Mark Hoppus — is no stranger to video games. His Twitter is regularly full of jokes and pictures about Animal Crossing, Pokemon and other 3DS titles.

https://twitter.com/markhoppus/status/391526429080694784

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Blink hasn’t released a new album since 2011’s Neighborhoods, a divisive record that drew influences from other projects, such as the short-lived band +44 and guitarist Tom Delonge’s other band, Angels and Airwaves. The band plans to go back into the studio early next year to record a follow-up, which they have claimed will be an “edgier” record. They’re currently celebrating the ten-year anniversary of the “Untitled” album, a more experimental release featuring hits like “I Miss You” and “Feeling This.”

Blizzcon veteran and comedian Jay Mohr will once again host the event, which was cancelled last year to the dismay of many fans.

Jay Mohr, on the other hand, could probably not host this one and I’d be totally fine with it. He’s pretty awful in everything.

Here’s a music video for After Midnight, one of my favorite songs from Neighborhoods.