Style 43

On April 3rd 2007 the legendary Good Riddance announced they would be stepping down as leaders of the punk rock scene and splitting up, after an astounding and highly accomplished career as one of California’s greatest ever exports.

To mark this emotional decision the band decided to play one last show in their hometown of Santa Cruz. “Remain In Memory: The Final Show” was the outcome. Recorded from the moment the show began until the very end, this is an album that fully pulls together 31 tracks in a fast-paced, rollercoaster ride of a sound, true Good Riddance style.

With an introduction that is full of speeches and audio movie clips, its hard to work out amongst the crowds muffled screams, what is being said. Rapid and unrestrained drum beats pound all the way through this record.

“We’re Good Riddance from Santa Cruz California. As you know this is pretty much it so have a good time tonight”, they announce, as finally address the crowd and slide into track number 5 “Weight of the World”. This is a generous album, full of what have to be your best Good Riddance tracks, its hard to recall which they DIDN’T include on this record. For a band that got together back in 1990, self-releasing their first demo “Loaded for Bear”. -18 years down the line, 8 LPs, 3 EPs, and two split EPs later, the guys have done Fat Wreck proud, making them one of the longest-standing signing to the label.

Good Riddance have certainly done us proud on this one. A blinder of a show. So good that listening to this record almost made me upset at the fact that I couldn’t be there in person. They announce to the crowd during a break and another few seconds of gratitude and thanks, that they are being taped for this record. “Fuck Yeah!!” is all you can hear amongst the crowds excitable uproar. I’ll second that. Not since back in the day has a live album made me feel part of the action and right in on the fun. I’d go through all the tracks, but if you’ve got this far into the review, you probably know ‘em all already. Lets just say that here on “Remain In Memory: The Final Show”, they sound better than ever before.