Pop Punk's Not Dead Tour Hits Berkeley, CA!!
New Found Glory/Hot Mulligan/Lolo
UC Theater - Berkeley, CA 9/21
By Jeffrey Easton
Musical genres come and go and its survival depends on the fans that buy into the trend. Music means a lot to the diehards and if you have bands and genres that hit the chord in their hearts, you aren’t going anywhere. That goes for pop punk, the genre we are celebrating here. Pop Punk came at the right time, Warped Tour was hitting milestones and it help grow the genre to epic proportions and that includes the rise of New Found Glory who of course played their 10th anniversary tour in 2004 which is where I first caught them. Flash forward to 2021 and they are still going strong, selling out venues and introducing new bands into the genre to their hordes of fans
Opening the show was the still up and coming LoLo, a beyond gifted performer with a massive career in front of her. Her addition to this tour showed that pop punk is still thriving with a younger set and has a huge future. LoLo has a unique perspective that caught my ear, from Death Wish, Teenage Dirtbag and Lonely & Pathetic to Hate U. The lyrics could fit anybody with that odd thought process which I find refreshing in this otherwise sterile music climate. You have to go listen to her, watch her videos, watch her live, whatever it takes to get my point across, I do not think you will disagree. What stood out the most and what sold the night to me was Die Without U. I have never heard a love/hate trope so to the point and it has found its way to my repeat listening. Her connection to the crowd was immense as well, she has stage presence and her band aggressively drove all of her points home as she wrapped the crowd around her finger. You won’t have to remember her name, she won’t let you forget it.
Following right behind was Hot Mulligan and my only question for this band who are a few albums deep in their career is, why are they not a household name by now? They had UC Theater following every line, the fans screaming for them, their songs are on point and their sound is catchier than an aggressive cold. Who isn’t buying their stuff or playing them on all formats? Out on tour supporting their new EP I Won’t Reach Out To You and due to the shut down off the touring industry, last years You’ll Be Fine LP, they had plenty to give the crowd that was waiting. Lolo set them up and now HM had to keep the fire burning and that they did. Dropping *Equip Sunglasses*, Digging In, Bckyrd, OG Bule Sky and Featuring Mark Hoppus in their massive set was enough to satisfy their lustful fans and bring over any unconverted. This band needs to break huge…now.
New Found Gory, what can I say that hasn’t been already said, possibly by me in previous reviews over the years. I remember first seeing them in 2004 in Fullerton, Ca on the first Warped tour I covered and I have been a fan since then, catching them on various tours and seeing them grow through their immense catalog. With the theater going dark, the screams ignited and it was on, NFG hit the stage unleashing Understatement on their fans and it was indeed time to light the stage on fire. Hitting all the high points of their career, so far, they pulled out Selfless, All Downhill From Here, Dressed To Kill, my personal fav Happy Being Miserable and one of their best covers, King Of Wishful Thinking as well as Kiss Me as only they can do it. Of course they are out supporting a new record, Forever + Ever x Infinity and the set was littered with tracks from that. The record dropped last year but we were given a special edition just in time for the tour to go out. To hype the new record to their frenzied crowd they dropped two of the singles, Greatest Off All Time and Stay Awhile as well as Nothing To Say, all destined to be classic NFG tracks. The fans loved them and they fit right into the set. As stated, I have witnessed NFG play for years and the band have a tireless energy, you couldn’t tell that they have been road dogging for over 2 decades as they come out as if each show is their first show and they want to impress you. I couldn’t put my finger on a stale moment in their set and with this tour they truly proved to me that pop punk is indeed not dead.
Official New Found Glory Site
Official Hot Mulligan Site
Official LoLo site
UC Theater - Berkeley, CA 9/21
By Jeffrey Easton
Musical genres come and go and its survival depends on the fans that buy into the trend. Music means a lot to the diehards and if you have bands and genres that hit the chord in their hearts, you aren’t going anywhere. That goes for pop punk, the genre we are celebrating here. Pop Punk came at the right time, Warped Tour was hitting milestones and it help grow the genre to epic proportions and that includes the rise of New Found Glory who of course played their 10th anniversary tour in 2004 which is where I first caught them. Flash forward to 2021 and they are still going strong, selling out venues and introducing new bands into the genre to their hordes of fans
Opening the show was the still up and coming LoLo, a beyond gifted performer with a massive career in front of her. Her addition to this tour showed that pop punk is still thriving with a younger set and has a huge future. LoLo has a unique perspective that caught my ear, from Death Wish, Teenage Dirtbag and Lonely & Pathetic to Hate U. The lyrics could fit anybody with that odd thought process which I find refreshing in this otherwise sterile music climate. You have to go listen to her, watch her videos, watch her live, whatever it takes to get my point across, I do not think you will disagree. What stood out the most and what sold the night to me was Die Without U. I have never heard a love/hate trope so to the point and it has found its way to my repeat listening. Her connection to the crowd was immense as well, she has stage presence and her band aggressively drove all of her points home as she wrapped the crowd around her finger. You won’t have to remember her name, she won’t let you forget it.
Following right behind was Hot Mulligan and my only question for this band who are a few albums deep in their career is, why are they not a household name by now? They had UC Theater following every line, the fans screaming for them, their songs are on point and their sound is catchier than an aggressive cold. Who isn’t buying their stuff or playing them on all formats? Out on tour supporting their new EP I Won’t Reach Out To You and due to the shut down off the touring industry, last years You’ll Be Fine LP, they had plenty to give the crowd that was waiting. Lolo set them up and now HM had to keep the fire burning and that they did. Dropping *Equip Sunglasses*, Digging In, Bckyrd, OG Bule Sky and Featuring Mark Hoppus in their massive set was enough to satisfy their lustful fans and bring over any unconverted. This band needs to break huge…now.
New Found Gory, what can I say that hasn’t been already said, possibly by me in previous reviews over the years. I remember first seeing them in 2004 in Fullerton, Ca on the first Warped tour I covered and I have been a fan since then, catching them on various tours and seeing them grow through their immense catalog. With the theater going dark, the screams ignited and it was on, NFG hit the stage unleashing Understatement on their fans and it was indeed time to light the stage on fire. Hitting all the high points of their career, so far, they pulled out Selfless, All Downhill From Here, Dressed To Kill, my personal fav Happy Being Miserable and one of their best covers, King Of Wishful Thinking as well as Kiss Me as only they can do it. Of course they are out supporting a new record, Forever + Ever x Infinity and the set was littered with tracks from that. The record dropped last year but we were given a special edition just in time for the tour to go out. To hype the new record to their frenzied crowd they dropped two of the singles, Greatest Off All Time and Stay Awhile as well as Nothing To Say, all destined to be classic NFG tracks. The fans loved them and they fit right into the set. As stated, I have witnessed NFG play for years and the band have a tireless energy, you couldn’t tell that they have been road dogging for over 2 decades as they come out as if each show is their first show and they want to impress you. I couldn’t put my finger on a stale moment in their set and with this tour they truly proved to me that pop punk is indeed not dead.
Official New Found Glory Site
Official Hot Mulligan Site
Official LoLo site
