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Epitaph Records -- Millencolin

Goldfinger is a band that has taken a whole lot of shit in recent years because of their pretty different recent releases. I got back into Goldfinger when I bought their live DVD for old times sakes, and it only took a few songs before I was reminded why I used to like them so much. I bought their new CD only to discover that they had almost eliminated everything I liked about their music, but I still liked a few tracks that still had that Goldfinger feel.

Before the show, I was given a sticker of the first band that would play; they were called the Bottom Line. I asked the girl handing stickers out what they sounded like; she said the description was on the back of the sticker. I looked to see they were pop-punk and I discovered they were the newest band working with John Feldmann. Their set started off, and they were pretty energetic; the sound was pop-punk like New Found Glory with the whiny voice. They played a few songs and Feldmann came out to sing along for one. I didn't like them, but I figured they were alright for what kind of music they played.

In between sets, I went down to check out what kind of merchandise Goldfinger was selling. I was distracted, however, when I saw a guy that looked exactly like Goldfinger's original guitarist Charlie Paulson standing near the VIP elevator. I wasn't sure if it was him though, and he was gone before I had the chance to ask him.

theSTART had a pretty cool introduction to their set; they played the whistle track from "Kill Bill," then came out, and their sound completely took me by surprise. I had never heard theSTART before; I was expecting something completely different though. They were really good, and I really liked their stuff. They had Kelly Lemieux from Goldfinger come out and play a song with them; it was the best song of the set.

Goldfinger took long to set up, but I figured it would be worth it. They started out their set with a weird metal-ish march thing, but transitioned into "I'm Down;" it was a pretty cool intro to their set. They played "Spokesman" after that, then "Counting The Days," then "My Everything" off of their newest release. Feldmann said it was time to mellow out, and they began to play "King For A Day," but only got to the second verse before they started playing "Mable" and invited the whole crowd on stage. After "Mable" they played their newest single "Wasted," with their bass player playing the mandolin to the song in the intro; around three-fourths of the way through the song, the venue erupted wirth confetti. Feldmann talked about how they had been together for 11 years and how 11 years ago, before they were on a label, they played the next song at The Whiskey down the street. They played "Miles Away" which if not for an event that occured later would have been the best part of set; in the middle of the song Darrin came down to have someone eat a twinkie out of his ass, then he crowdsurfed around the whole venue; instead of Feldmann picking up the guitar, Darrin did. Darrin, Kelly, and Brian flipped their guitars around their necks and then continued with the song and ended it perfectly. They played "Open Your Eyes" next, then "Here In Your Bedroom." Feldmann said the next song was for all those that came out wanting to skank; they played "Superman" and ended the beginning of their set.

I was expecting them to close with "99 Red Balloons" and be done; I was wrong. Goldfinger returned onstage and Feldmann said a good friend of his came out to the show today and that he was going to play a few songs with them; his name was Charlie Paulson. The crowd went crazy; he came out and they started to play "Question," and he had more energy than the whole band did during the song, and did some moves on his guitar that were amazing, like his super spin where he is pretty much like a tornado while still playing the guitar. The time came where Charlie's part normally was in the song, and he sang it; it was seriously amazing. They played "Fuck Ted Nugent" next and Feldmann said he wanted to see the whole crowd turn into a pit. There was a guy in a rabbit suit being chased by a guy that was supposed to be Ted Nugent with a bow and arrow on stage. The song was great and once agan Charlie was amazing. They closed their set with "99 Red Balloons;" by this point it felt like I was seeing Goldfinger in their heyday, and I couldn't have been happier.

I could have the set a little mixed up, but overall it's pretty right. There is a video of Charlie playing question at the show on the link added.



People who liked this also liked:
The Scaries - Wishing One Last TimeThe Good Life - Album Of The Year



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    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 29, 2005 at 8:49 PM (EST)

    FlipSide busted them and their label for pretending to be an Indy label to shave a few bucks off the Ad Rate in FlipSide. This opened the can of worms about Goldfinger's street cred. So one of the FlipSide writers dug up the dirt on Goldfinger's past. Yes they were a hair Metal band with the stupid Motley Crue pin up promo photos when hair metal was the fad, they changed their name from Electric Love Hogs to Goldfinger when Offspring became huge. They had stupid lyrics along the same lines as Poison. I guess now they're trying to make up for it with all the PETA crap.
    GOLDFINGER CAN SHOVE IT UP THEIR FAD ASSES!

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 29, 2005 at 8:42 PM (EST)

    CCCCCCcccrap!

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 29, 2005 at 3:41 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    fuck you for revieing this. fuck you for enjoying this. seriously FUCK YOU.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 29, 2005 at 2:56 AM (EST)

    "Didn't FlipSide call these douchebags out about 10 years ago? They were
    Electric Love Hog during the hair metal years, then changed to Goldfinger during the grunge fad."

    Because Goldfinger was so grunge, Feldmann was also in IMRU, I recall them being punk.

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, March 28, 2005 at 5:25 PM (EST)

    Someone here likes the Aquabats. I'm looking in mjg's direction. Thats taste for ya.

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, March 28, 2005 at 3:11 PM (EST)

    Didn't FlipSide call these douchebags out about 10 years ago? They were
    Electric Love Hog during the hair metal years, then changed to Goldfinger during the grunge fad.

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, March 28, 2005 at 2:18 PM (EST)

    Disconnection Notice: the name of Goldfinger's new album

    Why? Because they no longer have the skillz to pay da billz!!!

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, March 28, 2005 at 1:40 PM (EST)

    obligatory comment making fun of PETA, vegans, clubbing seals, eating cow, wanting a steak now, etc.

    paul

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, March 28, 2005 at 1:25 PM (EST)

    how the fuck does a Goldfinger live show get 5 stars.

    they are not has beens, they' re never was's.

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, March 28, 2005 at 10:25 AM (EST)

    the s/t was one of the first punk/ska albums i ever owned. i really loved em from 99-2000 but open your eyes really turned me off and the new album is no better. glad i caught them on the 'stomping ground' tour, i have no desire to hear anything they've done since live.

    paul

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, March 28, 2005 at 12:19 AM (EST)

    Goldfinger was your favorite band in the late Spring / Summer of 2001?!?!?

    WHOA.

    Now THAT is some fucked-up crazy shit.

    2001? Really? That's just ridiculous. A full YEAR after Stomping Ground.

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, March 27, 2005 at 10:26 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    damn it feels like such a long time ago that Goldfinger was my favorite band, almost four years. ah, days gone by...

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, March 27, 2005 at 3:44 AM (EST)

    langrisser>>>shinning force

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, March 27, 2005 at 1:00 AM (EST)

    Where are the "Best Genesis Game of All-Time Question" results?!?!?

    Help.

    Posted by mjg on 2005-03-26 14:33:05

    i saw the start a few years ago when they had the major label problems. they were absolutely terrible.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, March 26, 2005 at 2:08 PM (EST)

    Hey Joe, Madonna sold her share of Maverick a couple of years ago. You burn is therefore unfounded... and your stupid.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, March 26, 2005 at 7:53 AM (EST)

    Spoken like a man who truly knows nothing about the band except for what they read in anti-GF blogs. =)

    -Kevin

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, March 26, 2005 at 5:50 AM (EST)

    While all this people defend Goldfinger and especially John Feldmann's credibility, I sit here and smile at the fact that he is Madonna's bitch, and that he dragged his band into it too.

    Joe

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, March 26, 2005 at 12:51 AM (EST)

    Hey iheartadam, where do you live since "los assholes" sucks so much. I bet It's somewhere really, really really great. Right?

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 25, 2005 at 10:26 PM (EST)

    I take it most people have never played Shining Force II, given its omission from the "Best Genesis Game of All-Time Question" results.

    Go to www.romnation.net and check it out, it's a really fine game! Very addictive though, so you might want to wait until you've completed all of your essays and exams before playing it.

    (P.S. My selections for top 5 characters: 1. BOWIE (hero) 2. Peter 3. Gerhalt 4. Sheela 5. Slade)

    -Chinatown

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 25, 2005 at 6:36 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    Great review, glad you enjoyed the show as well. I've actually been a huge Goldfinger fan since I first heard Here in Your Bedroom back in '96 I think it was and am still as big a fan now. While I think their self-titled debut album is definitely their best, I think each successive album has offered an array of great songs.
    For those of you that had positive feedback, that's cool. Always nice to meet fellow fans.
    For the naysayers however, why is it you felt the need to read and/or rate this review if you hate Goldfinger so much? We don't go into reviews for whatever whiney, emo shit bands you probably listen to. Have the same respect for us.
    For whoever said Goldfinger is "trying to be like Sum 41." Actually, GF has been around years and years before Sum 41. Has it ever occured to you that maybe GF is actually the influence on Sum 41? That's like saying The Rolling Stones are trying to act like Creed.
    Note: Goldfinger actually DID play San Simeon, I think the reviewer just forgot to mention it. It's become pretty much a staple of their setlist.

    Posted by iheartadam on 2005-03-25 18:06:35
    My Score:

    Well let's break this down.

    Goldfinger - not 5 star worthy
    Lost assholes California - not 5 star worthy
    Munching down on some milkfed veal - 5 star worthy

    Yes sir. When zealots attack, assholes fight back.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 25, 2005 at 2:08 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    You didn't know who the Start was?

    I would have liked to have read more about their performance- fuck Goldfinger; I never liked them.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 25, 2005 at 11:00 AM (EST)

    nice review. it seemed like a very nostalgic show. good times

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 25, 2005 at 10:47 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    score is for how nonchalantly you mentioned "eating twinkies out of his ass"

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 25, 2005 at 10:29 AM (EST)

    goldfinger shit the bed huge when charlie left, theres nothing worse than dudes in their 30's trying to sound like sum 41, and their last 2 records prove that

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 25, 2005 at 10:14 AM (EST)

    Charlie played with them?! Cool. Wish I could have seen that.

    Posted by sickboi on 2005-03-25 08:12:16

    Five stars my ass....

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 25, 2005 at 7:26 AM (EST)

    John Feldmann: the single reason all bands on MTV sound exactly the same.

    Posted by See_ya_in_hell on 2005-03-25 03:16:04

    no san simeon? fuck that noise

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 25, 2005 at 2:53 AM (EST)

    mentioned, not realized. im gay.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 25, 2005 at 2:53 AM (EST)

    this band sucked after hangups.

    and they need to get a new live show routine. they've been pulling every single stunt you realized since i saw them 6 years ago.

    Posted by maverick on 2005-03-25 00:47:39

    Charlie goes pretty nutty in that video clip. I got dizzy just watching.

    -Scott

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