Written by 10:50 pm Arts • 2 Comments

FNL: Green Day v. Blink-182

Friday night, I was at a punk rock concert in Cro, standing between sweaty, gyrating rock stars and a head banging, fist pumping audience. Lyrics only filled the gaps between the distorted power chord-driven riffs of Blink-182 and Green Day. As soon as Blink-182 opened the concert up with “Damnit,” the crowd erupted into a frenzied mosh pit.

 

The Friday Night Live [FNL] event was a battle of the bands of two cover bands: Green Day and Blink-182. The bands not only emulated the sound of Blink and Green Day but they also took on the style of the punk rockers they were impersonating. In the Blink-182 band Jon Markson and Andy Stein-Zeller wore backwards baseball hats typical of the skater-punk look of Mark Hoppus and Tom Delonge. The members of the Green Day cover band, with the exception the bassist who looked like a cross between Gandalf from Lord of The Rings and a hog farmer, wore black collared shirts and ties similar to those worn by Green Day during their early years.

 

The bands took turns playing two sets of four songs each. The Blink-182 band played eight of Blink-182’s best known songs including, “All the Small Things,” “What’s My Age Again,” “Rock Show” and “Dumpweed.” About 85% of the audience sang along to Blink’s pop punk anthems. However, the Green Day cover band performed fairly unknown songs in their set. In the beginning of the show Dave, the lead singer of the Green Day cover band, warned the audience that they were not going to perform any songs from American Idiot or 21st Century Breakdown.

 

As a result, the energy and audience participation died down a considerable amount during the Green Day sets. Although the band performed songs like “Longview,” “Minority,” “Insomnia” and “Basket Case,” in between these popular songs they played songs that few people could sing along to. Even if the performers don’t like all of a band’s radio friendly hits, they need to remember to sacrifice their personal tastes for the enjoyment of the crowd. And while Dave did a great job matching the singing style of Bradley from Sublime in the last FNL event, he struggled to imitate the vocal intonations of Billie Joe Armstrong.

 

The most impressive thing about the concert was the enthusiasm of both the bands and the audience. Andy, the bass player for Blink-182, constantly spun, danced and sometimes flailed around the stage. He even sacrificed some bass lines to pull off a dance move. Being a part of an audience where everyone jives to the same music creates a sense of community that few experiences can match. The Green Day band let the audience choose the last song. “Basket Case” beat out “When I Come Around.” When it was over, the entire crowd chanted “One more song,” and the host responded with “Not going to happen.” This is a shame because the addition of an encore would have pumped up the crowd and would have enhanced the ending of the battle.

 

With no more songs to play, the show ended, but not before an audience poll was taken. The band that managed to receive the loudest cheer from the audience would win the battle. From my position in the room, I thought Blink received the loudest response. However, for the second concert in a row, the bands tied. When an event is advertised as a battle of the bands, I would’ve liked to see a definitive winner be chosen at the end of the show.
In addition, while the FNL Cover Band Battle concerts attract fans of these famous bands, it would be nice to see some original songs mixed in with the set list. Doing a complete set of covers disables the creativity and innovation that new bands add to the sphere of music.  These cover bands do an excellent job of attracting a broad audience to the concerts and music scene at Conn. But we must not forget that new music should be appreciated and celebrated as well.

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