New Found Glory
Location: O2 Academy
New Found Glory are the pop-punk elders always give 100%. Coming to Glasgow’s O2 Academy on 14th October 2025.
From the basements of suburban Florida to brushes with the mainstream and onto a legacy fortified by ride-or-die fans and imitators alike, New Found Glory have always put fun first – the rest has fallen into place.
New Found Glory must be the only band that has been on the frontline of every new wave of pop-punk. They were peers of Green Day and blink-182 during the fleeting early aughts bubble when major labels and mainstream radio couldn’t get enough, enabling anyone playing power chords and wearing snapbacks to buy a Malibu mansion. Ten years later, after Green Day and blink converted that success into lifetime festival headliner status, NFG led the more grassroots ‘Pop Punk’s Not Dead’ campaign alongside the new kids on the block, bands such as Man Overboard, The Wonder Years, and The Story So Far.
Recently, the genre has found itself resurging yet again, this time driven by the likes of Olivia Rodrigo and Machine Gun Kelly. NFG were there for that too – of course they were, because they never went away, and neither did their fanbase. There’s just something special about a NFG live show, they’ll tell you: a pogoing singalong bonanza from the word go. It’s not only 20-year-old boys hurling into each other during the breakdowns. It’s couples getting engaged to the slower songs, like the band’s beloved rendition of ‘Kiss Me’. To the kids on shoulders belting out the words to their movie soundtrack covers, ‘Let It Go’ and ‘This Is Me’. It’s teens who might be at the start of a lifelong love affair. And it’s middle-aged dudes in vintage merch who’ve seen it all and are crossing fingers for something from the first album.
Where the story begins
New Found Glory’s story began in a blur of garages, high schools, and basement shows in south Florida circa 1997. With a name inspired by the Get Up Kids song ‘A Newfound Interest in Massachusetts’, they quickly became the flagship band of Drive-Thru Records, the epicentre of pop-punk and emo in the 2000s and which released their 1999 debut album, Nothing Gold Can Stay. But it was the gold-certified New Found Glory the following year that kicked off a run of records that ensured their longevity throughout the decades to come.
Sticks and Stones (2002) and Catalyst (2004) were the band at their creative and commercial peak, pumping out hit after hit – from ‘My Friends Over You’ to ‘All Downhill From Here’, songs they’ve played every night since. Things didn’t dip after this so much as they differed. Coming Home was more akin to The Goo Goo Dolls and Third Eye Blind than it was an obscure nineties hardcore band putting their twist on Dookie. For Not Without A Fight, the pendulum swung back, and Coming Home’s piano went out the window (presumably landing on some unsuspecting Looney Tunes character). It was their heaviest record yet, with cinderblock riffs and breakdowns that accidentally invented a new subgenre. ‘Easycore’ bridged hardcore elements with pop choruses and spawned a wave of three-word-name bands including Four Year Strong and Set Your Goals.
Rebuilding
After 2011’s Radiosurgery, founding guitarist Steve Klein was swiftly fired when allegations against him came to light and the band started to rebuild as a quartet. They’ve had to continue rebuilding since, as guitarist Chad Gilbert has battled two rare forms of cancer, most recently in his spine. He and NFG aren’t quite out the other side of this, and members of other bands have been filling in on guitar when Gilbert is unable to play.
As always, New Found Glory are running head-first through whatever obstacles block the route to the live show, trusting in fun, friends, and fans. That’s what their latest single ‘100%’ – their Pure Noise Records debut – is all about. Over a decidedly old-school riff, Jordan Pundik’s inexhaustible yell confirms, “Whether I’m at the top or whether I’m broken down, my word is cement / I’m gonna give you 100%.” You can’t argue with that.
