Between Blink-182, Sad Summer Fest, Manchester Orchestra and Jimmy Eat World, and more, it’s been a phenomenal summer for fans of the 2000s pop punk and emo scene, and that trend continues with an absolutely stacked lineup tonight, Aug. 25 at Nashville Municipal Auditorium, for a tour dubbed the All-American Wet Hot Summer Tour, and featuring The All-American Rejects, New Found Glory, The Starting Line, and The Get Up Kids! Several of these legendary acts (and honestly, we’d count the openers as just as, if not more, exciting than the headliners) have rarely or never played Nashville- at least not in many, many years- and a chance to see them all in one place is surreal, like hopping through a time machine to 2006. Tickets are still available right here, and you can read more about the lineup and preview the bands below (but let’s be real, if you’re a fan of this type of music, you shouldn’t need any convincing to make this show a must-see)!
THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS
While they played sets at Ascend Amphitheater in 2016 and 2017, supporting Blink-182 and Dashboard Confessional, respectively, The All-American Rejects haven’t played a headlining show in Nashville (or been on a headlining tour at all) in more than a decade, nor have they released a new full-length album since 2012’s Kids in the Street. Still, their 2000s output seems as popular and relevant as ever, beginning with the Oklahoma-bred group’s massive, eponymous debut album in 2002. Their pop punk and emo informed sound evolved into more alt rock and power pop territory with 2005’s Move Along and 2008’s When the World Comes Down, and singles like “Gives You Hell,” “Move Along,” “Swing, Swing,” and “Dirty Little Secret” remain millennial classics of the aughts. Retaining the same lineup for the last two decades, the band still rip live, and it’s awesome to see them still playing big rooms amidst a new wave of pop punk nostalgia. Some band members call Nashville home these days, so this should be an extra special show.
NEW FOUND GLORY
New Found Glory have played Nashville a ton in recent years, and that’s because Music City has become something of their de facto home base, as members have currently and previously lived here, and nearby Franklin plays host to their own BreakFEST music festival. For more than 25 years now, NFG have been one of the most enduring and popular bands in the pop punk scene, fusing their hardcore roots and penchant for melody to create scene classics like 2000’s New Found Glory, 2002’s Sticks and Stones, and 2004’s Catalyst. They’re easily the most prolific band on this bill, consistently releasing albums, EPs, collabs, and covers throughout the decades, including recent 12th LP Make the Most of It, and they’ve stayed pop punk icons by never straying from the sound or DIY ethos that made them so popular and resonant in the first place. NFG are always an absolute blast in concert, and even though their catalogue is deep, you can always count on them to play all the hits!
THE STARTING LINE
If Pennsylvania pop punks The Starting Line have ever played Nashville (and we’d wager that they probably did in the early ’00s at some scrappy punk venue or some Warped Tour type event), we can’t find any evidence of it. And certainly not any time recently, as the group have toured very, very sparingly in the last decade making them, for our money if you’re a pop punk fan, reason enough alone to make this show essential. Aside from a 2016 EP, the band also haven’t released any new music since their criminally-underrated 2007 third LP Direction, which arrived not long before they went on a brief hiatus. Their first two records, 2002’s Say It Like You Mean It and 2005’s Based on a True Story are bona fide emo and pop classics, and though TSL never got quite as big as some of their peers, nor have they stayed in pop culture quite as pervasively, for many scene kids of a certain age, they’re one of the most important and meaningful bands of the 2000s. Their reluctance to tour extensively makes their inclusion (and potential debut in Nashville) all the more special.
THE GET UP KIDS
Though every band on this lineup technically formed in the ’90s (some just by the wire), the rest all made the bulk of their music and found the most fame throughout the pop punk explosion in the 2000s. Kansas City’s The Get Up Kids, however, are one of the most important and beloved acts of the ’90s midwest emo scene (typically called “second wave emo”), without which that 2000s scene and all of the bands it inspired wouldn’t exist. They didn’t invent the emo sound, but they were certainly forefathers of it, and were hugely important in helping shape and popularize it, despite never quite reaching the fame of peers like Jimmy Eat World. 1999’s Something to Write Home About should undoubtedly be on the Mount Rushmore of emo records, though all of TGUK’s music is stellar, including the records and EPs they’ve released since their 2008 reunion, most recently 2019 LP Problems. Tonight marks only the band’s third Nashville show in the last 15 years, and it’s crazy that such a legendary group is opening- we’d be equally excited for The Get Up Kids alone!
The All-American Rejects, New Found Glory, The Starting Line, and The Get Up Kids will perform tonight, Aug. 25 at Nashville Municipal Auditorium. The show is all ages, begins at 7 p.m., and tickets are available to purchase for $39.50-79.50.
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