THE BEST JOKE Chris Rock told when he hosted the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards came at the expense of Good Charlotte.
“Good Charlotte?” the comedian quipped after the band finished performing “The Anthem.” “More like mediocre Green Day.”
That’s truly a good one. Good Charlotte, a pop-punk band led by former San Jose resident Joel Madden, should be so lucky to come across as mediocre Green Day.
During Good Charlotte’s concert on Wednesday night at the Fillmore in San Francisco, Madden admitted to the crowd that his favorite band is indeed Green Day. Given that, it’s easy to speculate that Madden would like to see his band follow a similar career path to that of Green Day, a group that has shown continuous artistic growth while increasing in popularity over the years.
Based on Wednesday night’s showing, however, that’s not likely to happen with Good Charlotte.
A longtime favorite of teen crowds, the Maryland-reared act began actively courting older listeners with the release of 2004’s surprisingly serious “The Chronicles of Life and Death.” The wooing will continue on the next album, due in February, which the band has said will showcase a more mature side of Good Charlotte.
Yet, it’s pretty clear that fans would rather have the old Good Charlotte, the one that sang peppy, catchy tunes full of teen angst directed at controlling parents and pressures to conform. Those were the kinds of songs that made the group’s best album, 2002’s “The Young and the Hopeless,” so much fun. And those were the kinds of songs that drew the greatest response from the youthful audience at the Fillmore.
While moving to the dark side, the band has seemingly lost a good portion of its fan base. In 2003, Good Charlotte drew some 4,500 folks to the Event Center at San Jose State University. One year later, immediately following the release of “Chronicles,” the group managed just 3,000 when it played the same venue.
The Fillmore gig was the first date on what is being called a small tour. But maybe that’s just being generous. Maybe the 1,000-capacity Fillmore is actually the right size for the band at this point in its development.
Good Charlotte set the tone for the evening, as well as served notice of what to expect from its forthcoming CD, by opening the concert with the downer new track “Misery.” Lyrically speaking, things didn’t get much brighter as the group followed with “Walk Away (Maybe),” a tale of being afraid of failure, and “The Story of My Old Man,” which deals with abandonment issues.
Although Good Charlotte’s audience is getting smaller, the fans remain as passionate as ever. The crowd, heavy with vocal teenage girls, squealed with delight at the start of every number and sang along to the lyrics like a class reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
The band wasn’t as sharp as it has been during past swings through the Bay Area, which can be attributed to both the long layoff between tours and a general aversion to rehearsing.
“We don’t believe in band practice,” said Madden, who has received much media attention for his romance with Hilary Duff. “So take it easy on us. We’re really trying for you.”
Good Charlotte — which also features Madden’s twin brother, Benji, on guitar as well guitarist Billy Martin, bassist Paul Thomas and drummer Chris Wilson — certainly sounded a bit rusty as it continued through “Predictable,” “Hold On” and the new song, “Keep Your Hands Off My Girl.”
Things began to click for the group near the end of the show. The band shifted into high gear for a memorable version of “The World is Black,” which featured some truly tortured vocals by Joel Madden, and a powerful turn through “The Anthem.”
The quintet closed with a fine rendition of what remains it’s best song, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” a deliriously fun number that had the crowd bouncing and singing along.
In that moment — and in that moment only — Rock’s joke became reality: Good Charlotte indeed sounded like mediocre Green Day.
Write music critic Jim Harrington at jharrington@angnewspapers.com. For more music coverage, visit http://www.insidebayarea.com/music.
