"The Old With The New"

Show: August 13, 2008 @ Kool Haus, Toronto, ON.
It was a great day to be 15 by the looks of the crowd that found themselves at the Kool Haus for mall rock superstars Boys Like Girls, and former pop punk icons Good Charlotte. Feeling like the oldest person in the crowd that wasn't a mom or dad there was an unusual experience but I soldiered on.

Opening the night was pop group The Maine, who despite being quite good musically managed to completely turn off anyone over 15 by repeatedly expressing his desire to "Have sex with everyone in the audience". After ever song it was the same thing and it just more and more tiresome, as did the ever growing chorus of screaming teenagers and the sea of mobile phones and cameras constantly held in the air. They only played for 20 or so minutes but it was enough to make me not want to see them again.

Following them were Metro Station, the group popular mainly because its lead singer is a Cyrus, the half brother to Miley to be specific. This band represents everything that is wrong with the scene right now, Cyrus spent half the set worrying about his hair while awkwardly trying to act like the rock star he is not. The whole set sounded slightly off, and it seemed likely it was being played from the sound booth. Mason Musso and the rest of the band at least brought kept some respectability to the group and didn't spend the set prancing around.

Good Charlotte was the next band to take the stage, more popular in gossip rags now than music magazines due to the two Madden brothers and their involvement with Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. However this was a music show and the former giants kicked off there set with 'The River' from their latest album. Playing through songs both old and new Good Charlotte proved that this was how a pop punk group was meant to perform, dispensing with the ridiculousness from the first two acts. This was a nostalgic show for me, bringing me back to being 16 with no clue about music apart from what I heard on the radio, and there's no doubt that Good Charlotte shined in that respect. They closed with the slightly hypocritical 'Lifestyles of The Rich and The Famous' but you can only hold so much against a pop group.

The slightly confusing headliners in light of the massive success of Good Charlotte were mall rock sensations Boys Like Girls, whose hit single 'The Great Escape' has been playing in all of your moms favorite stores for the past year. The band took the stage to an impressive light show, and set an impressive pace with opening song 'Hero/Heroine'. Frontman Martin Johnson spent most of the set glued to the microphone stand but took any chance to show he can rock out, throwing himself around the stage. He also had a ridiculous amount of guitar picks to throw out to the kids in the front. During their set the screaming reached almost epic proportions and Johnson couldn't finish a sentence without it starting again. All the cellphones and cameras went up when Johnson pulled out the acoustic guitar to play their first ever song, 'The Thunder', which was delivered admirably. The songs eventually all sounded the same, but that's basically inherent with this music, and they put on a good show, all members showing an impressive amount of presence considering how softcore they are. They closed with 'The Great Escape', Johnson leaping onto the barrier to thrust the microphone into the crowd, giving everyone a chance to sing along.