Let’s be honest, after the pandemic everyone needs a little reminder of the past fun that was before we were isolated for a whole year. What better way to remind everyone other than the message that Pop Punk’s Not Dead? Well, what if the phrase was turned into a whole tour? That’s right, The Pop Punk’s STILL Not Dead Tour, featuring New Found Glory and Less Than Jake, with special guests, Hot Mulligan and LOLO.

It’s always awesome to give newer bands a chance to shine, especially when they have an opportunity to open for such major artists like Less Than Jake and New Found Glory. First we start off with LOLO, an artist based out of Ontario Canada. Gaining her popularity from TikTok, LOLO is best known for her own takes on influential music, although now has released her own tracks as well. A highlight out of her set was her cover of Teenage Dirtbag, her spin of a pop punk classic originally performed by Wheatus, along with some of her own originals, surely kicking off the night on a high note.

            Following LOLO we have Hot Mulligan. An american emo punk band hailing from Lansing, Michigan, this group of guys start their set and waste no time at all. A decent chunk of thie set came from their album, You’ll Be Fine, which released in 2020, including fan favorites such as  “BCKYRD” and “*Equip Sunglasses*” in which the band members did indeed, equip sunglasses. Another fan favorite, “I Fell In Love With Princess Peach” off of the title album released in 2017, was also played and was appreciated by all. What’s in store for Hot Mulligan for the rest of the 2021 year you ask? With the release of their latest album, I Won’t Reach Out To You, the band will be heading out on the road on their own headlining tour with Prince Daddy and the Hyena, Sincere Engineer, and Super American, so be sure to check and see if they are coming to a town near you, it sure won’t be a show you want to miss.

We’ve come to the main events, Less Than Jake and New Found Glory. Less Than Jake kicks things off with the Co-Headlining act with a song off of one of their first albums, Losing Streak (1996) with “Automatic”. They then continue onto their very well balanced setlist full of newer songs such as “Lie To Me”, and  “The High Cost of Low Living” off of their 2020 album Silver Linings, all to songs such as fan favorites such as “Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts”, “The Science of Selling Yourself Short”, “Look What Happened” and so many more. Closing their set was an all time favorite, “All My Best Friends Are Metalheads” off of Hello Rockview (1998), which they left the very high bar to their fellow headliner, New Found Glory.

            After so much hype, New Found Glory takes the stage. Playing a plethora of variety from their discography, from their most fan favorite album, Sticks and Stones (2002) to their newest album Forever + Ever x Infinity (2021). Some of my favorite highlights included NFG performing “Vicious Love” which originally features Hayley Williams of Paramore, but in this case, featured our erstwhile opener, LOLO. Some other highlights that made the night were the handful of covers that the band performed throughout the night, including “Kiss Me” originally performed by Sixpence None the Richer, “King of Wishful Thinking” by Go West, and “Let It Go” by Kristen Anderson- Lopez and Robert Lopez, to which the lead singer and frontman Jordan Pundik comes out fully dressed as the well known character and original singer of the song, Elsa from Frozen. Finally, they close out the night with an all time favorite,”My Friends Over You”, and the audience did not disappoint. It was truly proven that night in Pittsburgh Pa, the Pop Punk is most certainly, Still Not Dead.

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Shelby Tyce

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