Review: New Found Glory @ The Gov 03/12/2025
Pop-punk legends New Found Glory started their first Australian tour since 2017 at The Gov and demonstrated why they’re still flag bearers of the genre.
Words & Images Thomas Jackson
New Found Glory w/LATE 90s @ The Gov 03/12/2025
Tonight is a small taste of Good Things Festival for Adelaide music lovers as pop-punk luminaries New Found Glory perform their first Australian show in eight years with an intimate sideshow at The Gov. It’s the same venue they performed at in 2017 when they were touring their 20 Years of Pop-Punk Tour. This time they’re returning armed with all the classics and a taste of new music ahead of the release of their twelfth album, Listen Up!.
Perth alt-rock four-piece LATE 90s walk onto the stage to John Cena’s WWE theme song ‘The Time Is Now’ and dive straight into ‘Don’t Blink’. The nearly full room may have turned out early to see the band again after seeing them make a massive impact at Hindley Street Music Hall earlier this year supporting modern pop-punk title-holders Neck Deep and State Champs.
LATE 90s bottle that comes-of-age nostalgic and… late 90s sound that defined a generation. They draw inspiration from grunge, nu-metal and punk rock, sounds that became synonymous with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and the early 2000s ruthless aggression era of wrestling. If the influence wasn’t obvious enough, on the screen behind them, gameplay from the classic Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 is projected.
No song better encapsulates these influences than ‘UNBOUND’. It’s a homage to Limp Bizkit with the industrial-edged lead guitar riff ringing in the melody and a chest-puffing, crunchy chorus. They finish with ‘Intrepid’ and ‘Let It Sink’. ‘Intrepid’ is a combination of all of these influences but with a modern lens carved into it, while ‘Let It Sink’ is a salute to the greats of grunge with vocalist Stephen Loreck sounding like a young Chris Cornell.
Despite just getting off a 17-hour flight - and not knowing what day it is, later having to ask the crowd - New Found Glory charge onto the stage giving it one hundred per cent. It starts with a frenetic trifecta of ‘00s anthems: ‘Something I Call Personality’, ‘Hit or Miss’ and ‘Head On Collision’. During ‘Hit or Miss’, vocalist Jordan Pundik jumps down from the stage and onto the barricade to personally greet the Australian audience they’ve missed for eight years. It’s all high fives, cheshire cat grins, mic grabs and crowd surfers as fans swarm the barrier reaching for their idol.
Since last being in Australia, New Found Glory’s live lineup looks a little different. Two new but familiar faces on stage include Four Year Strong’s Dan O'Connor and Cartel’s Will Pugh, both on guitar, while there is a cavernous absence with original member and guitarist Chad Gilbert not here. Gilbert has been at home battling a “really gnarly cancer” for the past few years, but Pundik informs the crowd he’s “kicking its ass”. Despite this lineup change, the band are on form with the two guitars - and backing vocals - adding extra layers to the soundscape, especially in comparison to 2017 when they came as a four-piece with one guitar. If you weren’t already salivating at this point, the band rings in their cover of Frozen’s ‘Let It Go’, which gets everyone in the room beaming.
The hired drum kit can’t keep up with the easycore punishment of drummer Cyrus Bolooki as he breaks the kick drum, not once but twice, during ‘Anthem for the Unwanted’ and ‘Kiss Me’. That’s the joy of New Found Glory: they’ve conjured a signature recipe of all smiles, pop-punk and sunshine mixed with the unrestrained intensity, riffs and chaos of the hardcore scene. Pundik sounds just as he did on their defining 2002 album Sticks and Stones and reminds everyone why he’s on the Mount Rushmore of pop-punk vocalists.
‘Hold My Hand’ gets one of the biggest call and responses of the night before Pundik screams the opening lyrics, “I’m sick of smiling, and so is my jaw”, of ‘Understatement’. They come back for a “song and a half” encore with the Catalyst album opener ‘Intro’ and their anthem and calling card, ‘My Friends Over You’. They cut the music to let the audience sing “you were everything I wanted” as every single person in the room bellows it back.
It’s another thrilling Good Things Festival sideshow for South Australia after Tool’s two-night showcase at Adelaide Entertainment Centre across the road last Friday. Sure it’s not the same as having the festival come to Adelaide, but it’s a rare opportunity to see New Found Glory in a headline setting and an extra gift for those flying over to the east coast for Good Things.
Pundik farewells the crowd, thanking them and saying we’ll see you “very soon”. Hopefully, Australia gets another tour on the back of their new album, Listen Up!, which arrives in February next year.
Want more pics of the gig? Check out our full photo gallery here.
