Good Riddance – Galatos (Concert Review)

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So last night was the night for pop punk legends Good Riddance, and first impression walking in to the always great but oft forgotten Galatos was ‘oh god, it’s a total Sausage Fest (A feeling that intensified throughout the night), but a pretty damn good turn out for a Thursday night in Auckland’. Doors were at 8, I got there at 830 and the first band didn’t start until 9… With four bands it looked to be a late one.

Out Cold AD opened (what’s with the ‘AD’ naming convention in hardcore bands?) and they were energetic, competent poppy hardcore. Actually pretty fun, sadly they were followed by the (reformed for the night only) Prowler, and holy shit did Prowler knock them out of the park; How did I forget how good this band was? I’m gutted it was a one off, because I forgot that hardcore could be fun. There was a pretty brisk trade in merch, which meant everywhere I looked was brand new Good Riddance shirts, along with the mandatory baseball caps and vans, it was like someone had just copy/pasted across the venue. During Prowler a pit started to form, just proving they should make their comeback permanent! The sound was killer and Galatos always makes shows seem cosy, even though its a decent sized venue.

It’s always a mission being a short arse, luckily I had my brilliant photographer Doug Peters there to capture the action; buy 10:30 when Vs The World started the place was packed and I was having trouble making it to the front! Vs The World were fun; I can’t claim to be familiar with them but for pop punk it was fun, and the crowd was having a great time. Galatos was heating up, and my glasses were steaming up, always a good sign for a winter show! After Vs The Worlds action packed set, the crowd started reaching fever pitch. I wandered outside to cool down, and had a chat to some of the fans…Perhaps I shouldn’t have, because critical engagement is a skill they seemed to have never learnt. I think you can enjoy music without worshipping the band, and you can think someone means well while still being problematic… This is apparently an unpopular view that nearly got me punched. Oh well, the fans were getting what they came for, and it was an interesting experience.

Good Riddance enter the stage in all their tangerine glory, and the crowd is going nuts. Good Riddance seem to know what the crowd wants and deliver it in hugely energetic spades. The entire crowd was if not in the pit (which reached pretty far back), was moving to the music and having a great time. Again, I can’t claim to know much of Good Riddance’s back catalogue but they were pretty fun, and you can’t deny they do catchy pop punk pretty damn well. You can see why people keep coming back to their gigs, and a great (if somewhat late) night was had by most. My only real problem is this; I think it’s not an unreasonable expectation to go to a punk show and not get fucking groped. I know people are getting sick of my mentioning this, but holy fuck can you just not? I’m going to keep bringing it up, as long as it is a problem. I have no problem with people wanting to meet people, and to have fun. But ya know what? Grabbing one of the few women who was at this gig arse is not the fucking way to go. So just stop. And if you see a dude doing it, don’t just laugh; call him out. I hate to end on a shitty note, but it’s getting old, and it taints an otherwise great show.

-Tove \m/

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Doug Peters –www.ambientlightblog.com

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