Good Charlotte plays Weezer @Selina's, Sydney (11/11/11)

Tue 15th Nov, 2011 in Gig Reviews

As the sun sank over the horizon on a blisteringly warm Friday afternoon, an eclectic mix of punters swarmed Sydney’s eastern suburbs for a surprisingly enjoyable night of quasi-emo alternative rock. Spearheaded by Good Charlotte with a rendition of Weezer’s seminal Blue Album, it’s safe to say that tensions were high in anticipation of what had the potential to be a glorious nostalgic trek back into the nineties…or potentially a desecration of what is regarded within the alternative community as one of the greatest albums of the past twenty years.

Charged with kicking off the night were Sydneysiders Amy Meredith, with their catchy semi-risqué breed of pop punk was warmly received by the surprisingly large, albeit inebriated audience who had gathered en masse early on in the night in somewhat of a testament to the hard working nature of the locals. With the vivacious Christian Le Russo at the helm, the quintet jaunted through a brief set of singles before disappearing as fast as they’d arrived, leaving a wake of screaming fans packed tightly within the confines of Selina’s.

As Good Charlotte took the the stage, no time was wasted in launching straight into Weezer territory with the chiming acoustic intro to My Name Is Jonas drowned out by the screaming of fifteen hundred odd members of Gen Y. With the opening track quickly disposed of, Joel Madden swiftly led the band through an initially singles driven setlist, with Buddy Holly, Undone: The Sweater Song and Say It Ain’t So gone and done less than thirty minutes on from the band taking to the stage.

Yet whilst the instrumentation may have drawn the audience back into the post-grunge world of the 90s, with guitarist Benji Madden exclaiming that the rationale behind their performance lied in the influence which the Blue Album had had upon them as young musicians, his brother’s stinging angst ridden vocals depressingly bought punters back to their senses. For whilst it may have been sixteen years since their last tour, it became quickly evident that there is no true substitute for Rivers Cuomo in all of his power pop glory.

With this rendition coming to a close with Only in Dreams, the overly tense and almost hesitant stance of the band came to ease with the breaking into familiar ground, with Good Charlotte’s The Anthem drawing the strongest response from the crowd yet who had apparently ultimately been drawn in by the allure of an intimate club show.

In somewhat of a twist of irony however it seemed that whilst the bulk of the audience may have been well into their twenties and thirties and thus certainly old enough to remember the days when Good Charlotte could legitimately claim their material was influenced by the realm of punk…at least to a degree, one of the real high points of the gig came with the featuring of recent synthpop singles Like It’s Your Birthday and Sex on the Radio that provoked a proverbial explosion within the mosh.

Ultimately however the true climax of the night came with Benji and Joel’s call to arms or so to speak, inspiring the audience to give it all in yet another spate of irony with the satirical Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous rounding out the show in one of the most expensive and exclusive parts of Sydney.

Whilst Good Charlotte may have proved the transcendence of Weezer’s masterful Blue Album in somewhat of a disappointing fashion, serious credit has to be given to the Americans for giving it their best shot and offering fans an intimate seventy five minute set showcasing the best of their own songwriting.