CommentaryFTC Record
GSB Music Review: Gym Class Heroes crowd sing-along rocks Voodoo Main Stage
By Max Rappaport
Gym Class Heroes have been a hit since the band formed in Geneva, New York in 1997, when Travie McCoy met Matt McGinley in his high school gym class. While McCoy is the only original “hero” touring, the band took to the main stage on Thursday Night at the Great South Bay Music Festival. Backing up McCoy was Tyler Pursel on rhythm guitar and keyboard, Mike Benj on drums, and Ledaris “LJ” Jones on synthesizer and bass guitar. The band brought the crowd to life with Travie McCoy’s constant calls to action and with a number of their hit songs like “Ass Back Home,” “Cupid’s Chokehold,” and “Stereo Hearts.” Gym Class Heroes also played a number of other songs including “Peace up/Index Down,” and “Clothes Off” plus a new song McCoy called “Useless.” McCoy filled the rest of the gaps in the show with some of his other songs; “Loved me Back to Life” and “Billionaire.”
The show started off with Travie McCoy calling for peace signs up and getting the crowd’s attention before he launched into “Peace up/Index Down.”
After making sure everyone in the crowd was paying attention with the opener, the band played one of their most popular songs, “Cupids Chokehold.” McCoy sat with the crowd for the duration of the song and passed them the mic for the chorus. After a heart to heart with the crowd where McCoy got some people to shake off a bit of their earlier shyness, he got everyone on their feet putting their hands together for his song, “Loved me Back to Life.” To keep the hype going, the band followed up with “Clothes Off,” where McCoy called everyone in the crowd “sexy” and performed one of his best rap verses, showing off hand signs for the crowd to get into for every one of his songs.
Up next was another of Gym Class Heroes’ biggest hits, “Ass Back Home,” where McCoy took a break by letting the crowd sing with him. Spectators were noticeably getting a bit tired at this point and felt that McCoy followed up with a song he clearly enjoyed performing in “Viva la White Girl” before getting the crowd swaying with another chill song, “Cookie Jar.” With his time coming to a close, McCoy debuted a new song called “Useless” that featured reggae beats for the chorus and many more rap verses from McCoy. The beats (and maybe the drinks) had the whole audience feeling themselves and dancing and the next song did not disappoint, as the whole crowd got into “Billionaire,” one of McCoy’s most popular solo songs.
With only a few minutes left in the show, McCoy thanked everyone for showing love, before prompting the audience to put their hearts up. With everyone’s hearts in the air, McCoy launched into the much anticipated final song, “Stereo Hearts.” The show ended with the crowd fully broken in and lots of dancing, and with that, Gym Class Heroes left the stage for more great artists to come at the 2025 Great South Bay Music Festival.
