One person's noise is another's music

And this was the case Thursday when the "Noise to the World" tour hit Fort Wayne halfway through the month-long tour. \nAwkward teenagers and other "cool kids" joined the crowd on the floor to enjoy the pop-punk sound of Relient K, Simple Plan and Good Charlotte, while their adult chaperons occupied the bleachers farther from the stage, shaking their heads in disbelief that their kids called this "music." \nRelient K rocked the crowd first, although not much can be said for their 5-song set. Their music, while it fit the genre, didn't fit the crowd. The Christian quintet couldn't quite capture the audience's attention and seemed to be performing merely as filler before the two acts that everyone was actually there to see. \nAnd while theoretically they were co-headlining the tour, the differences between Simple Plan and Good Charlotte were anything but subtle. You could almost sit in the stands and play the game of who came to see whom. Preppy girl with boy on arm? Here to see Simple Plan. Girl with spiked hair in all black? Probably a Good Charlotte fan. \nBut regardless of who they were here to see, the floor seemed to explode when the lights went down and then the pseudo-mosh pit was born. Enter Simple Plan, dressed in rock star regalia. They delivered a 14-song, hour-long set that was simple, with a sound of pop-punk meets pop-rock. They were extremely attentive to their audience, involving them in almost every song, conducting shouting battles between sides and during "Welcome to My Life," Pierre Bouvier (vocals) even joined the crowd on the floor. \nThey performed mostly their more upbeat songs, combining a mix of old favorites and new hits. Real crowd movers were "Shut Up," "Jump" and "Addicted." And surprisingly, the Canadian quintet ended its energy-filled set with an acoustic version of the current hit singles "Untitled" and "Perfect." The crowd went crazy with shouts of "Encore!" while the lights came back on as Good Charlotte's set crew started to organize the stage for the group. \nFifteen long minutes later, the lights went back down and the set was revealed. If Good Charlotte's goal was to appeal only to their punk fans, they succeeded. Decked out in graveyard-goth style, Good Charlotte began and wouldn't stop, even after half the crowd had filed out. The strong percussion, incessant yelling and overall horrible sound of the punk group lead about half of the audience right out the door. Even their pop hits "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" and "Girls Don't Like Guys" couldn't retain the teeny-boppers and their parents. \nMaybe it was just bedtime for those kids and their parents. Or maybe Good Charlotte was really just that bad. But either way, Simple Plan stole the show.