It’s kind of hard to imagine now, but in 2003, pop punk was big business. I mean, there’s hardly any rock band period that can fill a place like the Thomas and Mack now, but in 2003, the combined might of New Found Glory, Good Charlotte, MXPX and The Movielife were able to get that year’s edition of the Honda Civic tour upgraded from the already impressive Cox Pavilion over to a venue more accustomed to hosting U2 and rodeos. Unfortunately, the poorly executed venue upgrade resulted in one of the most violent shows I can recall.

As it turns out, fans who bought tickets when the show was still booked at the Cox Pavilion had their tickets converted to upper-level seating without their knowledge. Late comers were given the floor, and as you can imagine, people were not happy. By the time New Found Glory took the stage to play the biggest show they’d ever play in Vegas, things got out of hand. “Something I Call Personality,” “Sucker” and “Understatement” got the packed floor singing and circle pitting, but it also got slighted fans leaping from the bleachers down to the floor. The look of horror on the guards’ faces is something I’ll never forget, as I can imagine the intense liability that comes with having kids as young as 13 dropping down atop the heads of other fans and causing fights on the now-way-too-cramped floor.

New Found Glory cut their teeth in the hardcore scene and as such, were quick to react to the violence breaking out, particularly as guards began overreacting and clotheslining fans. Guitarist Chad Gilbert cut the band short during “Sonny” and confronted security, stating that the kids were in more danger of being assaulted by guards than they were from any jumping-related injury. Unfortunately, fans took that message as permission to drop from above, and suddenly wave after wave of kids began descending onto the floor. Seeing the guards overreacting and wailing on kids, NFG dropped their instruments and with members of Good Charlotte and The Movielife in tow, they leapt the barricade and tried desperately to break up the violence.

After things cooled down a bit, Gilbert finally came back to the stage, grabbed his guitar and finished “Sonny” all by himself, screaming “For now we’ll say goodbye, we know it’s not the last time” in that classic Shai Hulud voice and with the fiery passion of a dedicated musician upset to see so many fans put in danger, he tossed his guitar and exited the stage. I was already a huge NFG fan, but the band’s response to the violence really gave me a new level of respect for them, even though being more than 10 years removed, I can see that there were probably a number of better ways to handle the situation.

NFG did end up returning to the stage for “Never Sometimes” and a half dozen more as the entire crowd sang in solidarity. This was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen at a show, and it’s interesting to think about how news traveled then versus now. There wasn’t any video of this happening. No twitter posts are Tumblr photos. A few thousand people witnessed it and then it was like it didn’t happen.

As for the openers,Good Charlotte plowed through a set of songs mostly culled from sophomore album The Young and the Hopeless, though “Little Things” from their self-titled debut had just about as many people singing and circle pitting as mega hit “Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous.” I was never a huge GC fan but they sounded very tight live and I could see how the songs, filled with good hooks and tight harmonies, caught on like they did.

Even a cursory listen to MXPX’s back catalogue, by far the most extensive of the night’s bill, would reveal how big an influence the guys were on the rest of the show’s lineup, particularly Good Charlotte, who at that point in their career were basically sound clones of MXPX, minus the Christian lyrics. The band was riding their biggest wave of popularity due to “Responsibility” becoming a modest MTV hit and their at-the-time-recent Pepsi commercial, and the older kids in the audience decked out in NOFX and Pennywise shirts sang the loudest for classics like “Party, My House, Be There,” “Chick Magnet” and especially live show anthem “Punk Rawk Show.”

Melodic hardcore band The Movielife was up first and I found myself right up against the barrier, ready to sing along to tracks like “Single White Female,” “Walking on Glass” and “Hand Grenade.” They played to a small early-bird crowd, and frontman Vinnie Caruana did his best to make the massive venue seem cozy. When he pointed the mic to the crowd after singing “If my mind’s the weapon” the dozen or so of us Movielife diehards were more than happy to sing “my heart’s the extra clip” right back, and as loud as we could. If I knew this would end up being The Movielife’s penultimate Vegas show I would have sang even louder.

-Emily Matview

New Found Glory photo by Emily Matview, taken at the band’s 2013 show at the House of Blues

New found Glory setlist:

Something I Call Personality

Sucker

Understatement

Forget My Name

Better Off Dead

Hit or Miss

Sonny

Never Sometimes

Dressed to Kill

Head On Collision

Ballad for the Lost Romantics

Glory of Love (Peter Cetera cover)

Encore:

My Friends Over You

Good Charlotte setlist:

Little Things

The Anthem

Girls & Boys

Seasons

Hold On

Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous

The Young & the Hopeless

Emotionless

Say Anything

The Day That I Die