Good Charlotte? Bad Charlotte!

I'm sure that headline has NEVER been used before.

Good Charlotte were in town yesterday and my friend Sarah asked if she could share her shitty experience with my readers. The band was playing a private show for Radio Sophie listeners at the Liars Club in Alpine- people who won a contest to see them before they were scheduled to play at Viejas Concerts in the Park later that night. (Click 'keep on reading' for the full post)


Radio Sophie was even Twittering about it:

(Radio Sophie Twitter)Metro Station performing LIVE @ 4pm on www.radiosophie.com. Then Good Charlote takes the stage at 5pm from The Liars Club in Alpine!!!!! ... ... 03:55 PM July 20, 2008 from txt

And:

(Radio Sophie Twitter)Metro Station on now at www.radiosophie.com 4 pm

Well, apparently Benji is just too much of a rock star to uphold his commitments:

(Radio Sophie Twitter) So Benji from Good Charlotte drove up by himself and is in traffic. That means Sophie's Lounge with Good Charlotte won't start until 6pm

Being late is understandable, especially if the excuse you have is true. However, here's my friend Sarah's take on the situation:

...Good Charlotte was supposed to go on at 5, but lagged and did not take the stage till 6:45. Underage fans sat around with nowhere to go and nothing to do since they couldn’t purchase alcohol. When GC arrived they sat on stage the whole time with sunglasses on while inside the bar, then mumbled an apology. The reason they were late was that Benji slept in because of late night partying in Vegas while launching products in their clothing line...

And Sophie's tweet:

Good Charlotte on now at www.radiosophie.com. Log on!!!!!! 6:45 pm

I've been to many private listener shows over the years through several stations in town. There is almost always an element of waiting. There's the wait in line, then there's the planned wait time to get you to eat or drink- the bar or venue that is hosting certainly deserves some business for hosting the events- but there is reasonable and there is ridiculous. The fact that fans showed up at 3 to be there in time for the first band scheduled at 4 meant that they sat in a restaurant/bar for over 4 hours when the event was all said and done. As Sarah points out, there were underage kids there with absolutely nothing to do for that duration of time. (Have you ever been to Alpine???) When Good Charlotte finally played, fans were filtering out to arrive at Viejas in time for the actual concert.

Perhaps these rock stars need to remember that their fame and money is fleeting, that they are only as good as the latest teen craze, and it won't be long before they're forgotten. The way they disrespected this small group of fans, not to mention one of the only stations that supports them in this market, might bring their end that much quicker. And to that, I say good riddance.

You can see the performance here.