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Mest, Something Corporate and Good Charlotte Invade Chicago

Bands: Mest, Something Corporate and Good Charlotte

Venue: The Aragon - Chicago, Illinois

Date: September 23, 2003

Alcohol sales were down Tuesday, September 23, 2003 at the Aragon as about 2100 screaming teenage girls flooded the venue for Good Charlotte’s outpouring of pop-punk madness.

Chicago’s own Mest and the Dana Paint, California-based Something Corporate got the night off to an explosive start.

Mest opened with “Until I Met You,” the first track off their new, self-titled album. From there they tore through a 30-minute set of mainly older material like “Opinions” and “Drawing Board.”

Lead singer Tony Lavato had been derailed from touring at the end of this summer’s Vans Warped Tour because of needing emergency back surgery, but his pain wasn’t showing. The mowhawked vocalist bounced around stage and sang with ferocious energy. “It’s good to be healthy and playing for a hometown crowd,” Lavato said to the sea of jumping fans.

Mest played their recent radio single “Jaded (These Years),” which features Benji Madden of Good Charlotte and to no one’s surprise Madden joined Mest to belt out lyrics about friendships and sticking together.

A much more mellow Something Corporate acted as a mediator between the two poppy punk bands, yet maintained an extremely high level of energy. Something Corporate is known for blending a piano into the scheme of punk musical textures and easygoing vocal ballads.

With their Billy Joel meets New Found Glory sound, Something Corporate played songs like “Punk Rock Princess” and Cavanaugh Park” off their Drive-Thru Records release Leaving Through the Window. They also slipped two new unrecorded songs into their set, getting listeners ready for some new album material.

Before closing with “Hurricane,” Something Corporate played their popular upbeat single “If You C Jordan.” The longhaired singer Andrew McMahon got into it by jumping and stomping on his piano keys like they were fire ants trying to consume his feet and it made for the most enjoyable part of the set.

With Good Charlotte on deck and the crowd beginning to become frantic, parents were getting nervous. They stood on their tiptoes, peering over the masses of ponytails and black Good Charlotte T-shirts, trying to make sure their children were safe. Once Good Charlotte took the stage, little could be done to control the raging adolescents.

Good Charlotte began their set with the eerie instrumental song “A New Beginning” and slid into “The Anthem,” causing the crowd to jump in almost perfect unison to the beats of the music.

The entire band was dressed in all black. Guitarist Benji Madden and lead vocalist Joel Madden both sported mowhawks. Benji’s was a unique leopard print on the sides with black spikes on top and Joel’s was black with red spikes. It seems like a little bit of MTV fame has transformed these self-proclaimed “punk rockers” into mere entertainers.

The energy that Good Charlotte created was amazing. Bassist Paul Thomas, spent a good portion of the show spinning around in circles, while Joel jumped on and off the metal platform that rested at the edge of the stage.

Good Charlotte played a 90-minute set of almost every song off their self-titled album and their newest album The Young and the Hopeless. The crowd sang along to “Motivation Proclamation,” “My Bloody Valentine” and “Hold On” like an overly zealous church choir and Benji said that everyone sounded like angels.

The band humbly thanked the crowd for it’s support and said that the fans are the reason the band lives it’s dreams. They slowed things down with an acoustic version of “Emotionless” and after a brief break came back to play a three song encore.

As Good Charlotte closed with “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous,” the young crowd erupted one last time with a fury of happiness. No matter how much criticism the band may get, they put a great deal of effort and emotion into their performance. And the kids eat it up like candy.

Mest Pictures:

Something Corporate Pictures:

Good Charlotte Pictures:

By: Adam K. Zakroczymski III - Senior Editor / Founder

October 6, 2003

All Pictures and copy are property of Popular Underground Magazine and may not be re-published or re-used without proper permission.