Good Riddance - Remain in Memory: The Final Show
Rating
RIYL
Bad ReligionPennywise
The Loved Ones
No Use for a Name
Label
Fat Wreck ChordsTracklist
1: Intro2: Heresy, Hypocrisy, and Revenge
3: Made To Be Broken
4: More Depalma, Less Fellini
5: Weight of the World
6: Flies First Class
7: Think of Me
8: Yesterday’s Headlines
9: Without Anger
10: Out of Mind
11: Salt
12: A Credit To His Gender
13: United Cigar
14: 21 Guns
15: Last Believer
16: Fertile Fields
17: Darkest Days
18: One for the Braves
19: Shadows of Defeat
20: All Fall Down
21: Letters Home
22: Indoctrination
23: Not So Bad
24: 30 Day Wonder
25: Steps
26: Shit-Talking Capitalists
27: Libertine
28: Pisces/Almost Home
29: Winning the Hearts and Minds
30: Mother Superior
31: Waste
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Most bands throughout their illustrious careers could only dream of the success some bands manage to capture without any sort of solid mainstream airplay and success. Started in 1990 in the small coastal town of Santa Cruz, CA, Good Riddance immediately made an impact with their thoughtful, heartfelt lyrics and their attention to delivering the fast-paced punk rock that was slowly becoming a mainstay in the underground music community. Signing to Fat Wreck Chords in 1994 was only the beginning for Good Riddance as they released their first demo, Decoy, in 1994 and followed it up with three of the greatest punk rock albums to come out in the 90s: For God And Country, A Comprehensive Guide to Modern Rebellion, and Ballads From The Revolution. Bands come and go, members leave the bands they started with, and the direction of what's popular changes all the time, but none of that holds with Good Riddance, who managed to captivate audiences for over a decade. A proper farewell tour to top it all off is something most bands only hope to achieve, but Good Riddance managed to have a heck of one. Remain In Memory: The Final Show took place May 27, 2007 at The Catalyst in the bands' hometown of Santa Cruz, CA to a soldout crowd of faithful fans and is captured on this release.
Kicking off the 31-track final show was the intro which showcased the introductions of the band before opening up to come classic tracks which, upon first listen, sends chills down your spine as it's a perfect start to a tearful and emotional night and it was only right to showcase a part of each album the band released up front. One interesting thing to note is the band had gone through some line-up changes, including their drummer Sean Sellers departing in the mid-nineties only to find his way back and play in the band for the past year or so before the final show, and his returning skills are part of what makes this band so incredible.
Russ Rankin's controversial yet truthful way of storytelling throughout each track, as well as the energy and talent Chuck Platt and Luke Pabich brought show after show, are other elements that this band has had on display year after year. The first song gets underway with, "Where's the fucking money Keith?" a quote made popular as the kickoff to the track "Heresay, Hypocricy, and Revenge" over the years, and from the opening second Good Riddance are in superb form and ready for one hell of a send off.
Blasting through such memorable tracks such as "Weight of the World", "Flies First Class", "Think Of Me", "Yesterdays Headlines", "Without Anger", and "Salt" - all within the first 10 songs played - this show is powerful. The band then gets some help from Cinder Block on the always epic "A Credit To His Gender" before hitting on all cylinders and performing the rare demo track "21 Guns" which is still one of my favorite songs of all time. Then it just seems like hit after hit keep coming, Russ asks the crowd "Anybody sad?" they reply with a loud "YES!" and Russ just lets them remember "Don't be sad. We'll always have tonight," which adds to the overall atmosphere of the night.
Those kids were there to have the times of their lives and Good Riddance was there to go out with a bang, hopefully never to be forgotten. Scorching through one two minute song after the other they finally got to the encore, which upon listening, you could feel the crowd step it up a notch and you could sense the end being near, "Libertine" straight into sing-along-happy "Pisces/Almost Home" then "Winning the Hearts and Minds" followed by "Mother Superior," which got the sing-along-chants to a deafening high before closing down the show with the always intense "Waste."
Good Riddance had such a huge impact on my life, growing up in high school, discovering the track "Trophy" when I only had a dial-up modem so I downloaded the smallest song I could find. I think it's safe to say Decoymusic.com wouldn't be here today without this band turning me onto this alternate form of music and to stop listening to only what's on the radio. Throughout listening to this entire thirty one track album I'm not afraid to say there were moments while listening to tracks such as "Last Believer", "Fertile Fields", and "Letters Home" I got a little teary eyed thinking about how much this band changed my life and how much I will miss them. I can't say it was a huge shock when they announced they were breaking up as they had lived longer than most bands only dream of and have seen more of the world than most people will in their entire lifetime. This band is the definition of pop-punk to me, none of this cookie cutter perfect hair bands who took the genre and made it something it wasn't. Good Riddance will always remain in memory and this live album is only fitting to send off one of the greats in the genre... now we can only hope someone comes along and wants to release the DVD to the show as well.
--Aaron Yarborough
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