The final show of Good Charlotte‘s Australasia tour proved that if you aren’t getting your pop-punk fix at dingy venues, the only place comparable is a beautiful outdoor stage that makes the entire crowd regret how hard they committed to the bit of dressing in all black.
Live at the Domain is the most recent project from Endeavour Live, the promoters behind Rhythm and Vines and Gardens Music Festival — which has gone off once without a hitch and once with a relocation to Spark Arena. These public parks are unpredictable and difficult for promoters to wrangle, but seeing the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Sky Tower amidst the backdrop of rolling green fields proved it was worth it.
Local openers Tadpole set the standard for each band sticking to their scheduled slots loyally, allowing the night to run smoothly. I worried that a scratchy tone was a poorly EQ’d guitar before realising the sounds were literal live record scratches, with DJ Kritikl having joined the band’s most recent iteration to provide tracks, sampling, and other turntable tomfoolery.
Image: DJ Kritikl Credit: Jennifer de Koning / jenniferdekoning_
Despite reforming in 2024, Tadpole’s live performance calendar has remained sparse as they’ve navigated changing lineups and a new vocalist for their old songs — a risky role that frontwoman Lauren Marshall nailed. Despite their setlists flying across the stage in the wind, the band’s energy and joy was incredibly infectious.
Yellowcard took the earlier slot ahead of Highly Suspect, and the voice of the band’s singer Ryan Key hasn’t aged since their major label breakthrough, hitting the same tone that perfectly straddles the pop-punk whininess of the time without losing any melody, tone, or quality. Violinist and backing vocalist Sean Mackin, with his infectious energy and skill on stage, also couldn’t be ignored. He took advantage of his instrument’s portability, ripping it in front of both display screens, flipping his bow like a drumstick and serving as the band’s hype man whenever his violin parts weren’t needed.
Image: Lauren Marshall Credit: Jennifer de Koning / jenniferdekoning_
The opening power chords of “Ocean Avenue” was enough to completely submerge everyone in the giddy haze of pop-punk nostalgia. The crowd chanted along to lyrics they knew off by heart, and even though Key’s lead guitar accents sounded a bit undermixed, nobody gave a shit. As he had said earlier in the set, “If you’ve gone home and you still have a voice tonight, you’ve done this whole thing all wrong.”
Highly Suspect took to the stage to provide a break of bluesy hard rock and meandering guitar solos that swept through the park. Their placement between Yellowcard and Good Charlotte made sense once frontman Johnny Stevens attempted to instigate a mosh pit in the crowd, requiring the aid of a shirtless concertgoer to get the tired millennials to actually spread out.
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian/New Zealand music and globally.
Image: Yellowcard Credit: Jennifer de Koning / jenniferdekoning_
Even in their most energetic moments kicking off their set, Highly Suspect were minimal and sparse compared to their co-headliners. The slower tempos, moody reverb, and cigarettes lit on stage invited a steady sway across the crowd, providing a necessary break in the chaos without losing energy or momentum. Stevens’ stage presence kept things light as well, though I don’t know if anyone really wanted him to halt a song to make sure everyone in the crowd sang along to a line about masturbation in “Serotonia”.
Nostalgia tours have started to get a bad reputation, but as Good Charlotte belted out hits from across their career, their blasted pyrotechnics and interactive lighting displays hypnotised the crowd into a perfect sense of unity.
Image: Highly Suspect Credit: Jennifer de Koning / jenniferdekoning_
Many older fans only saw early Good Charlotte music videos on MTV before they could access them online, and many of them hadn’t seen the band live at all. The return to youthful glee is what drives these shows and sells them out. When you’re there in the crowd, even listening to bands you never really grew up with, the collective comfort and reminiscence is contagious.
By the final few songs, the Madden brothers had no reservations in claiming the finale to their tour as its best yet, largely thanks to the energy of a crowd beaming from an evening in the sunlight.
Between every song, they praised the crowd and thanked them for their time, energy, and passion. The entire crowd erupted as the band laid down the penultimate hit, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”, as its lyrics about powerful men continuing to avoid consequences while complaining about their woes in publications like this very one remain relevant. (As long as we get to complain about the rich in Rolling Stone too, we think it’s okay.)
Image: Good Charlotte Credit: Jennifer de Koning / jenniferdekoning_
There was a short encore break before Good Charlotte returned to the stage to finish out the night with “The Anthem”. The call and response of the bridge refrain, “Don’t wanna be just like you,” was probably enough to wake up some spirits haunting the nearby Auckland War Memorial Museum — and even then, I doubt the ghosts would’ve minded a wake up call from the best pop-punk show Auckland has seen in years.
I hope this show laid the groundwork for Live at the Domain to become an annual event; at the very least, it would be great to see see the Domain turned into festival grounds more often in order to attract more international bands back into the country — Kiwis are tired of having to flee to Australia to see their favourite bands!
With the stunning museum backdrop, rolling hills, and now the first-hand experience to know they can make a rock-oriented event like this work, Live at the Domain has the potential to reclaim the giddy heights of Big Day Out and Auckland City Limits in defining Auckland live music for years to come.
