A night I'll never forget: Good Charlotte rocks Auckland Domain

I’ve been a die-hard fan who’s been singing every word since primary school.

So please be patient with me if I get a bit emotional while writing this. 

I’ve been spinning Good Charlotte records since I was a kid, notebooks scrawled with lyrics, CDs scratched from overplay, and memories of my first school talent show tucked away in memory. 

But nothing could have prepared me for the electric, shoulder-to-shoulder buzz inside Auckland Domain last night, when the Madden brothers walked out on stage for their last stop on the 'Motel Du Cap World Tour.' 

Joining them were multi-Grammy Award-nominated and gold-certified rock band Highly Suspect, alt-rock royalty Yellowcard and one of New Zealand's most influential rock bands, Tadpole.

Each band respectively brought their energy, and it was felt by everyone who witnessed it all. 

Now, let me pull myself together while I describe one of the best nights of my life…

From the second they appeared, dressed in all black (looking so f**kin cool), it felt less like a concert and more like a reunion with the soundtrack of my life.

With vocals that still hit like a time machine, Good Charlotte launched into their opening songs, powerhouses like ‘The River’ and ‘I Don’t Wanna Be in Love (Dance Floor Anthem)’, and my heart nearly leapt out of my chest. 

Guys, you have no idea how much this band means to me. 

Even newer songs from Motel Du Cap, like ‘Bodies’ and ‘Mean’, which were woven through the setlist, felt right at home beside classics.

This tour is focused on 'Motel Du Cap', their first full album in seven years! But fans hardly cared that only a few of the new tracks made the setlist. Instead, what hit hardest was the classics.

Choruses like ‘Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous’ and “The Anthem” and ‘The Motivation Proclamation’ turned the crowd into one massive voice, thousands of people bouncing, yelling, singing with every scrap of memory tied to those songs.

I will say that yes, I low-key did shed a tear when they sang ‘Hold On’, it holds an incredibly large space in my soul, and it was surreal to hear it live. 

The audience was united by something special. People in their 30s were up front screaming back at the band like it was 2003 all over again, while younger fans discovered this music live for the first time. It was a pure, communal celebration, and a reminder that pop-punk isn’t just music, it’s family.

Joel and Benji Madden’s voices were impossibly strong, rich, confident, and unmistakably the same voices that carried us through those countless high-school angst phases. The crowd wasn’t just listening, we were singing back every word with a kind of nostalgia only true fans could muster. 

Their outfits shouted punk spirit and personal style, and as someone who has followed Good Charlotte since the early 2000s, it was so sick to see the band’s style evolve on stage. 

Joel and Benji leaned into their punk roots with black graphic tees, black leather pants, snapbacks, and that classic pop-punk aesthetic that feels timeless. Yet they paired it with a seasoned stage presence, confident, playful, and utterly unpretentious. 

The whole vibe said: We’re the same band you fell in love with, but we’ve grown with you. The crowd mirrored that energy, too. From vintage GC tees to modern reinterpretations, it was a sea of black, mohawks, sneakers, and nostalgia.

We also need a moment for the production value, it was absolutely insane. Giant LED backdrops flashed gritty, iconic visuals, while bursts of smoke and flames covered every big chorus. 

And as the final chords faded and the crowd cheered for more, I was left standing there, drenched in sweat, still remembering all the hooting and hollering I had just done.

Giving a subtle nod to the kiwi slang:

You guys are GC's

The crowd erupted into excitement as the band took their final bow.

This wasn’t just a concert, it was a living time capsule, proof that great music doesn’t fade with age, it grows with you.

This was one of those nights I’ll tell stories about forever.