“I was working at a shoe store, selling shoes. And I slid my band’s demo tape into a customer’s pair of oxblood Doc Martin’s that he bought. A week later, my band was signed. Don’t give up on your dreams!”
Goldfinger’s John Feldmann told the crowd between songs during the band’s set at the J Resort’s Glow Plaza in Reno. To keep fighting might be a bit cliche, but Feldmann delivered it with sheer authenticity, the same as every other trick the band pulled out of their sleeves to put on an absolutely infectious performance.
The group – a supergroup at this point as they feature Mike Herrera of MXPX on bass, Cyrus Bolooki of New Found Glory on drums, and a three piece horn section made up of members of Reel Big Fish – absolutely owned the stage, playing songs from across their 25 years of recorded output. And whether it was altering the lyrics to pronounce how much he loves performing, thanking the crowd for continuing to show up for their shows, climbing into the crowd to sing at the barricade, inciting a Wall of Death where the crowd parts like a sea before rushing into each other but altering the Slayer riffs they were playing to the theme from the 90’s television show Friends at the moment of impact, or forgetting the words to their cover of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” and stopping the band and switching to “Boys Don’t Cry” so that he could play through without forgetting, Feldmann and the group laughed and joked, clearly having a great time performing, and altering between their brand of ska and punk songs.
At one point, guitarist Charlie Paulson announced that the band has been around long enough that they used to play Del Mar Station, a long-defunct venue predating the birth of many of those in the crowd.
“Never were there more fights at a Goldfinger show than at Del Mar Station,” Paulson smiled.
In fact, the number of kids in the crowd was apparent. A friend approached me telling me that this was his daughter’s first show. Midway through their set, Feldmann invited all the children in the crowd, along with their parents, to climb onto the stage, and proceeded to launch into their song “Mable” in the midst of an absolutely packed stage area.
Following an extended encore where Feldmann told the crowd that rather than leaving the stage, they were just going to play more songs, the band walked off stage leaving a spent an ecstatic crowd.
San Diego’s Unwritten Law opened the show, playing through their songs spanning their releases from over the past 30 years. The group’s sound varied from pop punk to darker rock.
At one point, a guy wearing flip flops threw his arm around me, laughing that he had only heard 20 minutes before the show that Unwritten Law was playing in town, and while thoroughly unprepared for a punk show, knew that he had to catch the band and spend the full set in the pit before limping off.
While the energy started off in a lull, with the group taking the stage before the sun had set on the outdoor plaza area, by the end of their set the group had the rapt attention of the crowd dancing along.
Find out more on the band’s at Goldfinger’s page or Unwritten Law’s page.
