I'll try to be as nice about Rooney as possible, seeing how harsly everyone treated them as Good Charlotte's support act. I don't
think they were a band best suited to playing to a crowd of hyped up pop-punk fans. Their 'acceptable in the US' pop sound isn't really what UK fans are used to, and their songs were very same-y. On their myspace their songs are very good in a pop way, but live they fell short of being as exciting as watching grass grow. They only played one good song for their whole 40 minute set. Where Did Your Heart Go Missing was a really great song, and maybe if they are given 40 times more time they'll come up with enough good songs for a whole set.

It was truly Good Charlotte's night. From the pitch of the screaming I estimated that the majority of the crowd were girls. So the band aren't made up of cute 17 year old boys... Who cares when they play the songs they do? From opening with The River - from their latest album Good Morning Revival - they kept the energy levels at a maximum, blasting through hits such as Girls & Boys and not neglecting to chuck at least one song in from their first album for the die-hards (East Coast Anthem, despite my screams of "FESTIVAL SONG!"). Instead of a total break before an encore, guitarist Benji Madden came out and played two solo songs on acoustic guitar: Where Would We Be Now and Emotionless. They finished off the show with Lifestyles of The Rich and Famous, complete with a big old rant from singer Joel about how they would never complain, and how happy they are to be playing. It's wonderful to see a band contented with what they do and where they are. It's also wonderful to see a crowd so happy and exhausted after a gig.

Props to the venue staff for stopping me from passing out! Brixton Academy is a bit bad in the crowd-squashing respect and it's also terrible to travel to when the Victoria line is down.