It’s been 20 years since New Found Glory first left their home state of Florida for their first ever tour, and in celebration of their illustrious career in music they put on a full UK anniversary tour featuring English pop punkers ROAM. The UEA opened its doors on the 22nd of September to eager fans of all ages, which from seeing the line out the front of the venue, was a testament to NFG and the variation of people their music has touched over the years.
First up UK 5 piece ROAM took to the stage, being greeted by a large amount of applause and cheers from their strong Norwich fan base. They set the tone for the evening straight away with their first song ‘Alive’ which had the crowd jumping. The band from Eastbourne where no strangers to playing The UEA (or Tellytubby land as they named the university campus), and stated their enjoyment of being back and set out to put on the best show they can every time. The large and varied crowd really seemed to get behind the band as their set went on, almost feeding off each others energy as ROAM played through all of their big name songs much to the crowds enjoyment. As the band finished on the song ‘Hopeless Case’, the room erupted and gave a well deserved send off to ROAM, who we later found out would be touring the USA with New Found Glory as well. But now it was time for what everyone had been so eagerly waiting for.
For their anniversary tour, New Found Glory would play 2 albums in their entirety, varying from venue to venue. We where lucky enough to have them play through the Sticks & Stones and Catalyst albums, which arguably contained some of their most famous songs out of their 9 records released during their tenure. Now for me personally, New Found Glory has always been a band I’ve wanted to see live but had never had the chance to and I was not disappointed in the slightest from my first NFG show. Their insane energy and their bubbly personalities where projected throughout the whole building as the crowd sang their hearts out to every single word of every song. I’ve only witnessed a few shows where the crowd had been that involved, and it is always something very special to see first hand. The bands sound was identical to how they are on the albums, and if anything showed that their 20 year career had only made them stronger as if they seemed to get better and better with every song played.
As I looked around the venue, there was not one blank expression to see as everyone was smiling from ear to ear and belting out every word. The band finished on their famous (and my favourite NFG song) ‘My Friends Over You’ and the whole room shook as people where jumping up and down singing along, wanting to give the band a proper send off. I looked around once more after the last song, as people slowly made their way out of the venue, and I couldn’t help but smile at the fact that everyone was so happy with what they had just seen and heard.
New Found Glory really showed us that having been around for 20 years had not slowed them down in the slightest, but if anything had become better than ever. Mixed with showing more energy than most bands consisting of early 20 year olds, and that their sound has seemed to had become even better over time, New Found Glory really put on a show to remember.
Words – Huw Northcott
Photography – Kayleigh Warren
