Good Charlotte @ EntertainmentCentre, Adelaide (12/04/11)

Thu 14th Apr, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Since the release of their self titled debut album 11 year ago, Good Charlotte have consistently had successful tours of Australia. In fact, they were successful in Australia before they even hit it big in their own country of America. This tour, in support of their latest album Cardiology must be about the fourth time I have seen the band, and when I arrived at the Entertainment Centre, it was clear that their popularity is at an all time high as this Adelaide crowd was bigger than ever.

The first support act on the night was Sydney band New Empire. Initially I thought they may have been American but they thankfully dropped their phoney accents mid way through their set. Unfortunately, New Empire didn’t really offer anything new or interesting to the night; they were essentially a clichéd teeny emo pop-punk act but were received reasonably well by the majority of the crowd who appeared to be quite a young and impressionable group.

The second support act, Short Stack seemed to have quite a large following in the audience and it almost seemed that they were co-headliners rather than a support act. These guys also have the pop-punk sound which was perfect for this crowd but compared to New Empire, these guys did it a lot better. Short Stack had a lot more charisma and confidence and this would have been a great warm up for their up-coming headline tour which is starting very soon.

Even though the crowd went crazy for Short Stack, when the lights dimmed for the start of the Good Charlotte set, the crowd were at their loudest. After 11 years and 5 albums, the band have now had enough hits to easily fill up a headlining set, leaving no room for any filler. The songs that seemed to be the highlights for the majority of the young crowd were the newer hits including Sex on the Radio and Like it’s her Birthday from the latest album, but my personal highlights included, from their first album Motivation Proclamation ,and also The Anthem and Girls and Boys from their second album The Young and the Hopeless.

As the set came to a close, it was clear that singer Joel Madden’s voice was on the verge of giving out completely as it got croakier and croakier during the last few songs. Thankfully it lasted long enough for the energetic encore of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous which capped off a very energetic and fun set perfectly. The packed entertainment centre audience certainly would have felt that they had their money’s worth after this gig, and Good Charlotte always seem very appreciative to have so many people come out and see their shows.

The thing that I found most interesting about this gig was that the majority of the audience was so young. They would have been about the same age as the audience when I first saw them 11 years ago after their first album came out. Usually, as a band gets older, so does their audience (with the exception of The Wiggles maybe). It seems to be that the music of Good Charlotte appeals most to a teenage audience, even after all these years. If this trend continues, they may find themselves playing to the kids of their initial audience in just a few short years.