{image1}The black curtain rose Sunday night to a Danny Elfman-esque score, revealing a graveyard setting inspired by Edgar Allen Poe and Tim Burton. The gargoyles looked menacing as the members of Good Charlotte ran out, all dressed in outfits that resembled Jack Skellington in "The Nightmare before Christmas" and immediately started into their hit "The Anthem."
The opening song, which contains the lyrics, "don't want to be just like you," resonated with a teenage audience dressed uniformly in their Dickies and Hot Topic ensemble. This was one of the few nights where they could let loose and actually wear more makeup than usual, sport a mohawk, and just have fun without getting sent to the principal's office.
For their parents on the other hand, you could see many of them looking over the balcony making sure their children were all right. It certainly didn't help when Joel and Benji Madden sarcastically told the audience that The Rave didn't allow body surfing, but trying to control it was out of their "juris-dick-tion." All that did was get the crowd even more riled up as the band went into a rendition of their song "Tonight, Tonight."
The Madden brothers displayed a masterful control over their impressionable audience, getting them to sway, jump and sing entirely on cue. As far as rating them as performers, Good Charlotte really makes the grade, though the stage set and costumes did not match the effervescent punk music they played.
Their music, on the other hand, is immature when compared to the punk that preceded it, but since most pseudo-disenfranchised suburban kids have really no concern about the world outside of high school, it strikes a chord with them. In a year or so, they will see those songs about being different and the lifestyles and problems of the rich and famous are all just contradictions.
Good Charlotte did manage to keep the show appropriate for the whole family. Sum 41, who preceded them, did not. Their show began with a game of one-on-one basketball out of control, leading to a gory beating with a Chuck Taylor sneaker. The band then introduced themselves as "fun for the f----ng family" as the televisions behind them played footage of people vomiting and falling off their skateboards.
The obscenity-laced show was a parent's worst nightmare, and you could see many of them at the bar downstairs, or in the back shaking their heads and covering their ears. The continued remarks from the stage criticizing the parents begs the question, "whose money got the kids into the show and who drove them there?" Sum 41 may prove to be the Ramones of their generation, since their flair for immature three-chord songs played as fast as possible hasn't wavered.
Hazen Street proved to be nothing more than a second-rate Limp Bizkit. The rap-metal formula never seemed more tired, especially to the crowd who only cheered whenever the lead singer said "Milwaukee."
Lola Ray, on the other hand, was a breath of fresh air in the stale pop-punk category. Many in the audience -- who still haven't learned how uncool it is to wear the T-shirt of the band you are going to see -- were likely stunned that a band takes things into consideration like actually writing good songs. The Madden brothers certainly approved, as Lola Ray is signed to the Maddens' label.
