Carnival of Soul

It was a rare scene in Trenton Sunday night: thousands of music fans clogging sidewalks, riding shuttle buses down Broad Street and streaming into the CURE Insurance Arena, to watch A Day To Remember jam on its new Degenerates Tour.

It was surely just another gig for the Florida pop-punk heavyweight; no different than all the other cavernous all-purpose arenas transformed for a night into a raging concert hall.

But for the CURE, this was big news.

The 10,500-capacity venue situated less than a mile from the New Jersey Statehouse has hosted virtually no pop music shows this decade — Justin Bieber in 2010 might have been the last major event. The silence has been somewhat jarring considering all the A-list acts who once visited the space, then called Sovereign Bank Arena, following its 1999 opening: Shania Twain, Keith Urban, Cher, Elton John, Britney Spears and more.

Heck, even Bruce Springsteen played there, in November 2005 on his Devils and Dust Tour.

But in recent years, the facility off Route 129 has been largely wiped off the music map, instead loading its schedule with high school wrestling tournaments, cheerleading competitions, monster truck rallies and “Disney on Ice.” Most New Jersey music fans forget the building remains open, or exists at all.

So, why the falloff? A few reasons, says Fran Rodowicz, the arena’s general manager, who spoke to NJ Advance Media in September upon Sunday’s concert announcement. CURE became odd man out due to both an increase in live music events at nearby casinos — in Atlantic City and at Parx in Bucks County, Pennsylvania — and “radius clauses” which may keep artists away from Trenton and other Garden State venues in favor of sexier bookings in nearby Philadelphia and New York.

And as Trenton continues its economic redevelopment, it hasn’t exactly maintained its reputation as a sparkling entertainment destination. The capital city doesn’t even have a hotel.

But let’s forget about all that for a moment and talk sights and sounds from Sunday night. Does CURE still hold up as a viable music spot for the average fan?

In a word, yes. It’s not the prettiest arena — the gray cement concourse has all the charm of a minimum-security prison serving Chickie’s and Pete’s crab fries — but it’s certainly serviceable. The acoustics were tested early and often by the night’s explosive hard-rock undercard: Detroit’s I Prevail, Ohio’s Beartooth and Keansburg’s own Can’t Swim, and while there was some echo, it wasn’t enough to ruin the show — no worse than the feedback you hear at perpetually packed PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel.

Again, the industrial vibe — cement floors, weathered hockey boards lining the bowl (New Jersey Titans minor league hockey used to play here) — will likely keep glossy pop acts away for the foreseeable future. But rock, punk and metal promoters should absolutely look at CURE for future concerts. It’s a huge, worthy space and I could totally see mid-level groups like Cage The Elephant, Shinedown or Rise Against playing here and drawing double what they would booking, say, the Stone Pony Summer Stage in Asbury Park (capacity 4,000).

It also bodes well that the Swedish metal band Ghost performed at the CURE less than three weeks ago, on Oct. 25. Two rock shows is a trend!

As for the A Day To Remember set, which filled the arena about three-quarters full, it was a fine 90 minutes of incendiary pop-punk and metalcore, led by the relentlessly charismatic frontman Jeremy McKinnon. The five-piece band just played New Jersey in late June, co-headlining Vans Warped Tour’s 25-year anniversary festival on the Atlantic City beach. But the guys were back again in support of two new singles and an upcoming album, “You’re Welcome,” due out in early 2020.

The first new track, a pulsing electronic dance music collaboration with superstar DJ Marshmello called “Rescue Me,” is a shrewd move, introducing new sounds to its supporters while maintaining the polished and impassioned ADTR sound. The band could likely do an entire album of this and bolster its already expansive fanbase — maybe even score a single on pop radio, considering EDM’s ongoing mainstream presence.

The other newbie, “Degenerates,” for which the tour is named, is a crowd-pleaser, a pop-punk pacifier featuring a Blink-182 riff as its main melody. Easy to sing along to, far less teeth than the chugging jams off the band’s marquee album, “Homesick,” which celebrated its 10th anniversary earlier this year.

Otherwise, it was a night of hits and mosh pits. Sweaty guys and gals shoving each other and spilling beer on the arena floor.

More of this, please! Now, if Asbury Park’s legendary Convention Hall could just get its act together …

NJ Advance Media staff writer Kevin Shea contributed to this report.

Bobby Olivier may be reached at bolivier@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobbyOlivier and Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.