A mob of fans stretched for two blocks on High Street, anxiously waiting for the Newport Music Hall to open its doors Wednesday night.
It was a sea of black shirts and dyed hair, posters and piercings. Some had been waiting in place for five hours, and many were cold, and drenched with rain water. At 7 p.m., the crowd poured into the concert hall, crowding around the stage for the very show they had been waiting for: After what seemed like an eternity to most fans, Good Charlotte was finally back from their year-long hiatus and ready to rock once again.
Rewind to 7 a.m. The Good Charlotte tour bus rolled into town and parked outside the Newport. It had been traveling all night from Detroit, where they had just played the 12th show on their tour. The band stayed asleep on the bus until around 10:30 while equipment was unloaded and the venue prepared for the show.
Upon awakening, it was time for the band to step off the bus, use a real bathroom and find some food. For Good Charlotte guitarist Billy Martin, this meant coffee at the nearby Starbucks and falafel at Apollo’s Greek Kitchen. Martin, a vegetarian, says it is sometimes a struggle to find good food while on tour, but is pleased every time he comes to the Newport.
“I like playing this club,” Martin said. “This is probably the fifth time we played here … Sometimes we get thrown out in the middle of nowhere … but this is in a good location for food and shopping.”
The group then relaxed on their bus and unwound with video games, like Martin’s favorite, “Call of Duty 2.” At 4:30, it was time for the band’s sound check, and at 6 p.m., a meet-and-greet session with a group of lucky fans.
Soon, it was time for the show to start. Opening act Young Love got the crowd dancing along with the lead singer, while the next band, The Pink Spiders, had the crowd screaming and jumping.
After their pre-show rituals, which include making fun of their tour manager Mark and saying a small prayer, Good Charlotte was welcomed on stage by a roaring crowd.
Lead singer Joel Madden took the mike in between songs, thanking the fans for coming out despite the rain. He asked the fans what songs they wanted to hear, sometimes playing only a few riffs of a song before going right into another.
“We get to do whatever we want on this tour!” Madden said. “New songs, old songs and songs!”
This is not like most Good Charlotte shows. The band’s last album, “The Chronicles of Life and Death,” was released in 2004, and their next album, “Good Morning Revival” is scheduled to be released around March 2007. The tour is not so much a promotional tour as it is a tour just for the fans.
“It was kind of a last minute thing,” Martin said about the decision to start this tour. “We wanted to put together a small tour and play stuff we hadn’t played in awhile. We wanted to play stuff we wanted to play, not just songs we have to play.”
Martin said most fans have been fans from the beginning, and enjoy mostly older songs like “Seasons” from their debut self-titled album released in 2000, and “My Old Man” from their sophomore album, “The Young and the Hopeless.” Martin wanted the chance, however, to have new songs on the set list, as well as certain songs that are just fun to play.
When the tour is over at the end of the month, the band will take the rest of the year off, in preparation for “Good Morning Revival.” Martin said this album will be more fun and rejuvenating than the darker, more serious “The Chronicles of Life and Death.”
“We were stressed out, touring for five years straight,” Martin said. “Trivial things started to seem like a big deal. Everything seemed so drastic, and black and white at the time. So we made ‘The Chronicles of Life and Death’ because we had to get this off our chests. The new album will be more upbeat and have more electronics and keyboards, but still lots of guitar. It’s still a rock album.”
During the show, the band played two new songs that will appear on the next album, “Keep Your Hands Off My Girl” and “Misery,” both of which display the change in pace from the last album.
The energy on stage made it evident the group was happy to be back on the road touring. “We all get lost, but find our way,” Madden said. “We find our way through music and friends. All I want to do is what we’re doing right here, right now.”
The band left Columbus right after their show ended around 11 p.m. to make their way to their next venue in New York City, while fans left the show thrilled to have once again been given their Good Charlotte fix.
