Live Music: The Sick Tour

Asbury Park, NJ

By Gabby Cabacab

As a 24 year old who grew up listening to primarily alternative, emo, and pop-punk music, it shouldn’t be surprising to say that the two bands featured are two of many that hold a very dear place in my heart. Anyway, enough of the sentimentality, let’s get down to it.

Opening up with “Already Gone”, the first song off of their fifth album, Killing Time, Bayside kicked their set off to an electrifying start. Playing a diverse mix of songs from their whole discography such as “Masterpiece” off of their debut, crowd favorites like “Duality” and “Blame It on Bad Luck”, and ending their set with my personal favorite, “Devotion and Desire”, off of their self-titled sophomore album they definitely did not disappoint the crowd.

One of my favorite things about watching Bayside live is how much energy every single member lets out on stage. Lead singer, Anthony Raneri, somehow maintains a smile on his face even when he sings maybe the angstiest lyrics, but that’s probably because the crowd always mirrors his energy, maybe 10 fold. Nick Ghanbarian on bass always finds a way to get the crowd involved, getting them to sing back as loud as they can. Finally, Jack O’Shea on lead guitar and Chris Guglielmo on drums are such a sight to watch seeing how much passion they put into their craft. Bayside is no stranger to an Asbury Park crowd and knew how to perfectly prime the stage for the main event.

With a set full of neon green slime and cartoons, you can visually see why this tour is called “The Sick Tour” (I mean...besides the obvious album name), and that just adds to the fun of it. So, New Found Glory is a 21 year old band that probably still has the same energy as they did when they first debuted in 1997, which blows my mind. Opening up with a crowd favorite, “All Downhill From Here” off of their fourth album, Catalyst, the crowd went absolutely insane. The energy from lead singer, Jordan Pundik, resonates throughout the whole entire venue. How he’s able to run and jump from one side of the stage to the other while still singing has me dumbfounded because I know for a fact that not anyone can do that.

New Found Glory found a way to incorporate songs off of all 9 of their albums, which was a huge crowd pleaser, especially for the long-term fans. Some personal favorites include “Understatement”, “Party on Apocalypse”, “Happy Being Miserable” and of course, “My Friends Over You”. The highlight of this show was their wheel of songs. They chose an enthusiastic fan from the crowd to come up on stage to spin the wheel to decide which song to play next. The fan that spun the wheel has seen them live over 100 times, and the look on his face being on stage with his favorite band pretty much is all of us whenever we meet our favorite band for the first time. The song the wheel landed on was “Truck Stop Blues” from their 6th album, Not Without A Fight. Needless to say, the moment he grabbed Chad Gilbert’s (guitar) microphone from the stand and sang on stage with New Found Glory, the crowd could not stop singing, smiling, and having a good time.

So, the first time I saw New Found Glory and Bayside perform live was at Bamboozle 2007 here at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. 12 year old me would have never imagined seeing these same bands live 11 years later with as much energy, enthusiasm, and passion as they did then. Needless to say, if you ever get a chance to see these two live, you can not let that opportunity slide. You’ll be far from disappointed.

Bayside: