Show Review: Yellowcard plays Council Bluffs, Iowa.
COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA: After a long bout of bad weather overtook the city of Council Bluffs, Tuesday finally graced the residents with a bit of sunshine and a lot of great music. Pop-punkers Yellowcard, New Found Glory, and Plain White T’s banded together at Harrah’s Stir Cove to transport their audience back to better days.
Plain White T’s began their set with Feeling (More Like) Myself into the guitar-driven (Hate) I Really Don’t Like You from their 2006 album Every Second Counts. They closed out their set with unconventional love song Hey There Delilah, serenading the crowd as couples held onto one another, swaying to Tom Higgenson’s gentle vocals.
Up next was New Found Glory, and the energy that they brought with them was just as powerful as one might expect. As they made their way onto the stage with a track from their latest album, A Love Song, the audience erupted into cheers, throwing their hands — and foam fingers — into the air. Their excitement only grew when lead singer, Jordan Pundik, made his way from the stage and down to the barricade, giving fans the unique opportunity to sing alongside him.
As the night went on, the band took the opportunity to dedicate their final song to founding member, Chad Gilbert, who is currently battling cancer. Pundik asked the audience to keep Gilbert in their hearts and send him positive messages, stating that he reads each and every one. They finished off their set with the fan-favorite My Friends Over You.
Once the sun dipped beyond the horizon, headliners Yellowcard made a dramatic entrance to the stage with their rendition of the instrumental Top Gun Anthem. track Better Days, though not before having tee shirts launched into the crowd by their very own Ghostbuster and Michelin Man. They followed it up with the title track from their latest album, Better Days.
Soon after, frontman Ryan Key, guitarist Ryan Mendez, and bassist Josh Portman took their places on two sofas as the lights dimmed. They transitioned into some of their slower songs, namely Big Blue Eyes, which Key dedicated to his young son. As he sang, “There's life before you, and there's life after / I heard the melody in your laughter / I finally know just what my mother meant / When she told me there's no love like this”, families across the lawn watched together with arms around one another and heads resting on shoulders. They finished out the night with the hit song from their senior album, Ocean Avenue, ending the night on a high note.
Between the movie callbacks and references to well-loved Nintendo games such as Top Gun and Super Mario Bros., it’s clear that the Up Up Down Down is for the nostalgia junkie — it’s in the name itself. With the energy from the artists and fans alike, it was easy to forget that this show was not taking place in the mid to late aughts, but instead twenty years later.
