Face to Face

 
New Found Glory, Saves The Day & Sum41
September 28th @ The Glass House in Pomona, CA
Review 1 by: Aimee Schwartz
Review 2 by: Monika Scherer
Photos by: Scott Wulfestieg

Review 1
          A Thursday night at The Glasshouse in Pomona. If you read my review of Bad Religion, you know how I now love this all-age venue. One of the not too many in Southern California. There were kids everywhere, too bad Im not several years younger! I met up with Steve from New Found Glory, and what a nice guy, actually they are all pretty nice in that band. Although, I am wondering what their fascination with Britney Spears is? She was everywhere!!! 

          The show started off with Sum 41. They looked all of about 16 or 17, but man, they were great. The drummer, guitar player, and lead vocalist guitar player have the talent to really make their name known. I don't have much to say about the bass player. Sorry. They were tight, and even had some choreographed moves. The lead guitar player could play over his head, and the drummer had a nice solo. They even played a bit of "She's Tricky." I would love to see these guys again. If they keep going like this, they are gonna be huge. 

          Next up was Florida natives New Found Glory. It was cool to see so many kids into this band, they have pretty much exploded out of the East Coast, and are now playing everywhere. They are very poppy, but one very cool fact about them, is that they play movie theme songs. One that they played was "The Glory Of Love" from the Karate Kid fame. Sorry, I don't think most of these kids were old enough to see this movie. But very cool, just the same. New Found Glory are now on tour to promote their new self titled album. 

          After a short break Saves the Day took the stage. I think they covered a New Found Glory song, and that's just terrible. I don't know why these guys played before the previous two bands, and because I have nothing nice to say, I'm gonna move on. 

          Last but not least was Face To Face. Now I have seen these guys several times, and I have been having mixed feelings. They too are promoting a new release "Reactionary." Now as everyone knows, they have become more melodic pop sounding than yesteryears. The point is, they like what they have become. They still sell out venues, and albums, and tour consistently. Its just hard for a girl like me to be happy at a Face To Face show when all I hear is new material and I want something like "Don't Turn Away" or "I Want" off of Over It. Which coincidentally I found out is long out of print and that they consider obscure so they don't play anything off of it. :( If you can get this album, do it, it's totally worth it! But I guess what Im trying to get across is that Face To Face started off with 5 new songs, and then I left. Sorry guys, maybe next time.

Review 2
          The show started at 8 o’clock, and when I got there at nine, SUM-41 had already finished there set.  I was looking forward to seeing New Found Glory, and unfortunately missed the first three songs. They played two or three songs from the new CD, and then they played songs off their 99’ “Nothing Gold Can Stay “.   They did a good job of getting the crowd into the set.  The mosh area was going good, and people were singing along.  Although I don’t know many songs, I did catch some chorus lines to sing along with.  Those boys from Florida had a great show, and I’m sure they now have more fans than before. The new self titled CD came out on September 26^th, and is the first album that they have worked with a producer. 

                After a short break outside to catch some air, I went back in about 9:45 to wait for Saves the Day.  Although they are from New Jersey, they have been working hard to promote shows in California.  Saves the Day formed in 97’, and their first full-length album came out in 99’ titled “Through Being Cool”.  They must have been tired from touring, during the third song the singer stopped because he supposedly forgot the words.  I think he just wanted to get the crowds attention.  Most people were still outside recovering from the previous set.  As things picked-up, more people scurried inside for the show.  Saves the Day has a good melodic style, but the general crowd was not into this set as much. Fans of Saves the Day were into the show, singing along and bouncing to the songs.  Towards the end of their set, things picked-up, and some more people got into the show.  You can’t mosh well to melodic pop punk, but Saves the Day played there balls off to give the crowd an entertaining show.