Joy Williams and John Paul White of the Civil Wars. (Christina Mendenhall / rhythmscene.com)

Saturday night, fans waited in line for more than an hour to get into Culture Room. The eager line continued around the block and began to form as early at 6:30 that night. The Civil Wars brought all kinds of fans to their show. Their eerie, yet hypnotic melodies earned them two Grammy nominations this year. The duo seemed overly surprised that they sold out Fort Lauderdale’s Culture Room.

“There’s so many of you here!” vocalist Joy Williams exclaimed.

Throughout the night the duo thanked their fans over and over. “We can’t say thank you enough!” Williams said at one point.

The grateful cheers and applause led singer/guitarist John Paul White to say Fort Lauderdale was the best show of their tour.

Photos: The Civil Wars @ Culture Room

The Civil Wars played multiple songs off of their first full-length album, Barton Hollow, which was released just last year. Williams and White have an unexplainable connection on stage as well as with their fans. The crowd sang along to “Falling,” “Poison and Wine,” and their most popular hit “Barton Hollow.”
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The band Gaelic Storm performs at the Culture Room. (Photo by Caitlin Christophel)

There are only two days in the year that everyone gets to be Irish. First is St. Patrick’s Day, of course, and the other is when Gaelic Storm comes to town. Gaelic Storm took over Culture Room Friday night and turned it in to their own little pub from Ireland. Between the drinking, dancing, and bagpipes, it was easy to forget that the show was in Fort Lauderdale.

Gaelic Storm is known mostly for their 1997 hit, “An Irish Party in Third Class” which they performed in the film Titanic.

After they performed “Me and the Moon,” Patrick Murphy complained to the audience and fellow band members that no one had bought them whiskey yet. With a little convincing, a few generous fans bought them drinks. “Cheers to you, Fort Lauderdale,” Murphy said as everyone else raised their drinks.

Appropriately, the next song they performed was “The Night I Punched Russell Crowe” which is about a bar fight Murphy got in after too many drinks, and well, punched actor Russell Crowe, then ran away. Fans are still unsure whether the lyrics are true. Most want to believe they are.

They performed many other their other hits including, “Drink the Night Away,” “Johnny Tar,” and “Darcy’s Donkey.”
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Cover of Hanson

Hanson wrapped up their Musical Ride Tour with a bang on Saturday at Fort Lauderdale’s Culture Room. Fans waited patiently in the rain for hours before doors opened at 7 p.m. The venue was so packed, it was nearly impossible to walk through the room. Security had to keep fans off of the balcony railings and stairways to ensure the safety of the audience.

Fans sang along to every song and danced the night away with the band. Hanson played most of the songs from their 2010 album Shout it Out, which has more of a pop-soul vibe than earlier records. During “Thinking ‘Bout Something” and “Give a Little” the whole audience was jumping around and having a good time. Other songs they played off their 2010 album included “Kiss Me When You Come Home,” “Use Me Up,” “Musical Ride” and “Me Myself and I.”

Hanson also played their hit singles from earlier albums, This Time Around (2000) and Underneath (2004). They performed pop-rock songs “This Time Around” and “Penny and Me.”

Hanson kept up the crowd’s energy the whole night, but there was nothing like when they started playing the song they became famous for. Although it has been 15 years since the song was released, fans didn’t forget a single lyric to “MMMBop.” The fans were singing at the top of their lungs and almost overwhelmed the band’s own vocals.

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New Found Glory's Chad Gilbert sings in front of an enthusiastic crowd at Revolution Live. (Maysa Askar for pbpulse.com)

New Found Glory brought home a new album, Radiosurgery, as they returned to South Florida. They set out on their tour to prove that “Pop Punk’s Not Dead,” and it certainly is not.

The band kept the crowd up all night at Revolution in Ft. Lauderdale. There was a mosh pit in the middle of the crowd, and fans were crowd-surfing all the way through the last song. The band played a great mix of old and new songs from all seven albums.

Their set included pop-punk hits all the way back to 1999. Fans screamed the lyrics to every single song. The band played their most popular songs, “Understatement,” “Something I Call Personality,” and “Forget My Name” from their 2002 album, Sticks and Stones. New Found Glory kept up the energy, and frequently remarked about how great it was to be back home, in South Florida, despite the unfortunate weather.

New Found Glory performs at Revolution Live

The band performed a couple songs from their new album, Radiosurgery, which was released earlier this month. Despite the recent release, the fans knew all the words. It seemed like Radiosurgery had been out for months because fans didn’t miss a beat. Soon to be hits, “Radiosurgery,” “Anthem for the Unwanted,” and “I’m Not The One” were all played at the show, and backup vocals were sung by the crowd.
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New Found Glory -- Jordan Pundik, Chad Gilbert, Ian Grushka, Cyrus Bolooki and Steve Klein -- perform at Revolution Live on Sunday night. (Cindy Ord / Getty Images)

Times are busy for South Florida natives New Found Glory.

The group released its seventh studio album, Radiosurgery, last week. They began their “Pop Punk’s Not Dead Tour” just days after the release.

It has been two years since their last studio album, Not Without A Fight. They started writing the songs for Radiosurgery while on the “Honda Civic Tour” in 2010. The entire process of writing, recording, and finalizing the album took about four months.

“The waiting time for the record to come out builds it up for when we play it live,” said lead guitarist Steve Klein in a telephone interview. “It makes it a lot of fun.”

Directions, nearby food for New Found Glory’s Pop Punk’s Not Dead tour stop at Revolution

The group has been promoting Radiosurgery while touring by playing new songs off the album at each show. And fans are already singing back the lyrics!

They’ll be performing on Sunday in front of hometown fans at Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale, mere minutes from where they grew up, Coral Springs.
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Image via Wikipedia

The unkind weather Saturday night didn’t keep a single fan away from Revolution and the Arctic Monkeys. Fans took cover from the rain and eagerly waited under trees, umbrellas and the building’s overhang. It was a sold-out show and once the doors opened at 8 p.m., the venue quickly filled. Within about 10 minutes, the upstairs was full and the downstairs pit was completely packed.

Smith Westerns, an indie-rock band from Chicago, opened for the Arctic Monkeys. They got the crowd moving with their upbeat songs and heavy guitar riffs. They played few songs from their first album, The Smith Westerns. They played 9 songs off their most recent album, Dye It Blonde, which included their single “Weekend.” Their upbeat, glam- pop infused songs allowed the crowd to forget about the hours they waited in the rain, and got them pumped up for the Arctic Monkeys.

Once Smith Westerns left the stage, the crowd became restless waiting for the Arctic Monkeys. They began chanting “Monkeys” and finally, the English band took stage. As soon as the first song, “Pretty Visitors” started, the fans in the pit were jumping up and down and singing along. They played their raunchy 2007 hit “Fluorescent Adolescent” and the crowd surfing began. Lead singer Alex Turner kept the energy going throughout the show by lying on the floor during guitar solos and even jumping off the drum set to kick off their 2005 hit, “I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor.”
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When Marc Broussard finally hit the stage around 10 p.m., he blew the crowd away with his energy and charisma. He engaged himself with the crowd the entire show.

The audience cheered when he performed the song “Cruel” off his self titled album that was released this past June. Half way through his set, Broussard brought out the lovely ladies of one of his opening acts, Chic Gamine, to sing backup vocals for the rest of the show. Another song featured on his latest album, “Lucky,” had the crowd signing every love inspired lyric. Broussard then sent his band offstage to take a break.

He stuck around to sing a few acoustic songs, with help from the audience. One of the acoustic songs included “Gavin’s Song” off his album Carencro. The crowd was touched by the song which was written for his oldest son. A crowd member suggested “Evil Things” as the next song, and Broussard agreed. Since the band had exited the stage earlier, Broussard was left to play piano, which he explained he didn’t actually know how. The song sounded great and his fans were pleased.
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Buckcherry's Xavier Muriel (on drums), Josh Todd and Jerry 'Two-Fingers' Ashhurst perform at the Pompano Beach Amphitheater. (Erin Marta / rhythmscene.com)

It didn’t start out promising for the Rock Allegiance Tour, as rain poured down during the set of the band Drive A, keeping fans away Wednesday at Pompano Beach Amphitheater.

But once Crossfade hit the stage, it looked as though a monsoon couldn’t keep the fans from the show. The energy built from there, as Red, P.O.D., Puddle of Mudd, Buckcherry and finally Papa Roach took over the night.

Crossfade played a few songs, including one off their new album We All Bleed called “Colors.” They saved their 2004 hit, “Cold”, for last which brought up the crowd’s energy despite the rain.

Photos: Rock Allegiance Tour, with Papa Roach, Buckcherry, P.O.D., Puddle of Mudd, Red and Crossfade

Red was up next, and they really amped the crowd. They ran all over the stage and head-banged along with the audience to “Let Go” and “Breath into Me” from their first album, End of Silence. They also played “Lie to Me (Denial)” from their album that was released in February, Until We Have Faces.
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Mike Mineo's album 'Eccentricity' comes out April 9. (Photo by Alex Markow)

With his funky music and personality, Mike Mineo keeps his fans devoted to his solo weekly performances at the Kahuna Bar and Grill in Deerfield Beach and The Lodge in Boca Raton.

Mineo calls his music “avant-garde pop”, as he experiments with various instruments. He first learned to play trumpet, then taught himself bass guitar, guitar, and accordion, just to name a few.

His all-time favorite instrument? “My voice,” he jokes, “because I don’t have to carry it around.”
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Jason Castro performs at the Waterway Cafe in Palm Beach Gardens. (Photo by Caitlin Christophel)

Jason Castro may have only been third runner up on American Idol’s seventh season, but he is certainly making a name for himself now during his mall tour across the U.S.

Castro is promoting his new self-titled debut album which will be available Jan. 16. The first single, “Let’s Just Fall in Love Again” has become a hit with his ever growing fan base.

On Oct. 29, Castro performed at Waterway Café in Palm Beach Gardens for local radio station Wild 95.5. There, he performed a few songs including his new single, as well as “Hallelujah” which he sang on American Idol.

Castro’s performance felt very personal as he stood onstage alone with just a guitar and microphone.
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