New Found Glory Makes the Most of It.
written + photographed by hunter astrid
There's no debate that New Found Glory are all pop-punk legends. Being able to see them on Thursday honestly helped heal my inner child. I had never attended an acoustic set before this concert, and it was honestly very different than other concerts I have attended. That being said, although this show was more laid back and calm, New Found Glory and Leanna Firestone put all of their energy and emotion into their performances. The show itself was more intimate and made it feel more personable. The audience was still very active and did not hold back from screaming the lyrics and singing their guts out.
New Found Glory -
Like I mentioned above, I have never gone to an acoustic set before. At every show I have gone to before there is definitely a level of intimacy shared between the audience and the performer. But with an acoustic set, the intimacy feels more real.
That was definitely the case with New Found Glory. Their sound and performance was just very raw and very real. Nothing seemed overly produced and their performance was very strong. The band was mainly stationary throughout the set (Jordan moved around the stage more) but that did not take away from the amount of energy they used and the response by the audience. Even after 26 years of being a bond, you can tell that the guys in New Found Glory are still extremely happy with what they do and they still love performing.
New Found Glory is one of the original pop punk bands that helped pave the way for the genre and bands to come afterwards. They were founded in 1997 in Coral Springs, Florida. The band was originally formed by Jordan Pudnik (vocalist), and lan Grushka (bassist) before the recruited Stephen Klein (guitarist), who left in late 2013. Joe Marino (drummer) quickly joined the band and their last addition to the band was Chad Gilbert (lead guitarist). Cyrus Bolooki is the current drummer for them. The band name was created by Jordan and lan when they were working at a Red Lobster.
On this current tour the band consist of four people; Jordan Pudnik on vocals, lan Grushka on the bass, Dan O'Connor (from Four Year Strong) on guitar and backing vocals, and Cyrus Bolooki on drums, percussion and acoustic guitar. Unfortunately guitarist Chad Gilbert is dealing with an ongoing fight with cancer and wasn't able to join the band on this tour. You should definitely donate to the Pheo Para Alliance to help advance research in this field!
Their debut album was released in May of 1999 and is titled Nothing Gold Can Stay. Their first EP, It's All About the Girls, was released in December of 1997. What made them more recognized in the music world was their album Sticks and Stones, released in June of 2002, and specifically the song "My Friends Over You." their albums and releases in 2000-2004 (New Found Glory, From the Screen to Your Stereo, Sticks and Stones, and Catalyst) really helped push them to become one of the most recognized bands of the post-punk emo era.
New Found Glory has a large discography that consists of over 10 studio albums were made in the 26 years of them being a band. Their sound was ground breaking for the late 90s and early 2000s. They stand out from other bands of that genre because they helped pave the way for so many beloved post-punk emo bands. I've never actually been able to see them in concert before this set and I always wanted to. I will patiently wait until they come back on tour where I can see them all jumping around stage.
MY FAVORITE SONG: “Listen To Your Friends” off of Not Without A Fight (2009)
Leanna Firestone -
Leanna Firestone has a captivating and playful energy on stage. Her sound is indie pop with some alternative and country influences that is tied together by her lively spark and energy. She talked in between each song and gave a little prelude to each song she performed. Her banter with the crowd (and herself) was perfect and her smile was so infectious. When she performed on stage it was just her and her guitar.To add, her voice is so incredibly powerful and filled up the whole entire room.
Leanna is a newer artist in the scene that started to publish music online only three years ago in 2020. She began posting her singing on YouTube back in 2016 at the age of 15, and starting by posting a cover of 5 Seconds of Summer's "Ghost of You." she hails from Cookeville, Tennessee which is only roughly an hour away from one of the biggest music cities in the United States (Nashville). Now, she is based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Back in 2020, everyone collectively was struggling to fit in with the new version of society and fought for the feeling of stability in turbulent times. To cope, many people turned to social media, especially TikTok, as escapism. At first, her TikTok page (@leannafirestone) just consisted of her talking about anime. From there the videos transitioned to videos of her singing. To her, singing is her "passion, end game, and dream job (Diggers Factory)."
Leanna released her debut EP, Y/N, in May of 2021 and it peaked at #8 on the US singer-songwriter iTunes Charts. Her first single was released on October 30th, 2020 and is titled "Strawberry Mentos" and currently has amassed almost 10 million streams on Spotify (9.85 million on the day I write this. Her First and only album was released on February 24th, 2022. The album is titled Forward/Slash where every song title featured consists of: "TITLE / TITLE," just like her album title.
Although Leanna's genre is usually not the type of music I listen to, I cannot deny how talented she is. I resonated with a lot of her lyrics and found myself humming her songs repeatedly throughout the day. I will definitely be listening to her in the future.
MY FAVORITE SONG: “Diet Coke” (2021)
