Good Charlotte, Short Stack,New Empire @ BrisbaneEntertainment Centre,Brisbane, (08/04/2011)

Mon 11th Apr, 2011 in Gig Reviews

After a short-lived set by Sydney rock three-piece, New Empire, Green Day and All Time Low songs echo out over the thousands of patrons now packed inside the enormous Entertainment Centre at Boondall. If the long, side-swept fringes and black make-up weren’t testament enough, the majority of the large crowd shows their age and musical orientation as the songs of Weezer, Alkaline Trio, MxPx and Rancid are met with little-to-no reaction. The lowering of gigantic Short Stack banners, however, evokes no shortage of high-pitched screams to re-enliven the impatient crowd.

“Are you ready to fucking party?” yells twenty-one-year-old lead vocalist, Shaun Diviney, who boasts a white fitted jacket and black super-skinny jeans as he twirls the mic stand like a baton. The Sydney-based pop-punk trio exudes a laudable confidence despite their young age, but it only takes the second song for their charisma to show cracks as Diviney’s calf-length boots slip out from underneath him. All errors aside, Diviney’s vocals remain strong over the support of the five-piece band as they perform pop chart hits Sway, Sway Baby, Princess, and Shimmy A Go Go. Bassist Andy Clemmensen and drummer Bradie Webb appear dwarfed by their instruments but offer the necessary stage presence to please a target audience of young girls; they leave the guitar solos to the touring on-stage guitarist, however. With vocal encouragement to go “ape shit” and use their spirit fingers, the young audience certainly do so as Diviney awkwardly enters the crowd for the final chorus of their final song, Planets.

Although the response to Short Stack is huge, as the Introduction to Cardiology plays over the house speakers, the roof is positively raised with the excited screams from the now darkness-covered crowd. Adorned with their characteristic black clothes, chains and bandannas, Good Charlotte explode onto the stage with synchronised punk-jumps throughout the appropriately-titled, The Anthem. Pants hanging low, twins Joel and Benji Madden lead the band with a magnetic appeal that is hard to dismiss. Their anecdotal on-stage banter is endearing and their stage presence complementary. Joel works the stage with just the right amount of swagger during Keep Your Hands Off My Girl, while Benji leads the riff with his guitar held high above his head.

Fifteen years as a band has taught Good Charlotte a thing or two about entertainment as they belt out hit after hit from their five-album discography, including the songs Girls & Boys, Little Things and Like It’s Her Birthday. Midway through the concert, the majority of the crowd raises their hands as Joel asks if it is their first time seeing the band live. With the knowledge that the number of under-sixteen-year-olds in the crowd would have been just learning to walk when Good Charlotte’s first album was released, it is no surprise that later hits such as Dance Floor Anthem and I Just Wanna Live receive the most enthusiastic sing-alongs.

The show takes a more serious turn when Joel mentions the Queensland floods and the band aptly perform the ballads Hold On and The Motivation Proclamation. Yet the most moving moment of the show is reserved for Benji’s solo acoustic performance; modern-day lighters shine back-and-forth as the lyrics to Emotionless unashamedly illustrate the Madden twins’ father-son troubles—a well-pronounced theme in their earlier albums. The penultimate song reveals itself to be the similarly-themed The Story of My Old Man. This more up-beat track, however, is delivered with high spirits as the band segue into an unexpected cover of Dammit by Blink 182 —a band they were once supporting in similar-sized venues. By this point in the show, there is no mistake as to which song will close the exuberant set as familiar opening drum beats blast into the eager ears of thousands. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous is performed with as much energy and zeal as their opening anthem, and undoubtedly cements Good Charlotte’s longevity and popularity on Australian shores.