Straight Up Random

Concert Review: OP Presents: Boys Like Girls Tour

When: November 5, 2009

Where: Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution

Line-Up: Boys Like Girls, Cobra Starship, The Maine, A Rocket To The Moon, VersaEmerge

Click HERE to view pictures!

The Review: It’s not surprising that a long line of fans had already begun to line-up outside Revolution Live in anticipation for the show that night. The fans were in for a real treat that evening with a pop rock line-up that would give anyone a sweet-tooth and leave them craving more. Headlining this sold-out show was Boys Like Girls, and joining them that night was the likes of Cobra Starship, The Maine, A Rocket To The Moon, and VersaEmerge.

When the time reached 6 o’clock, the venue started allowing kids to go inside, but only about one-third of the line was inside the venue when VersaEmerge started playing. You could hear from the outside that the band opened up with their song “Past Praying For.” By the time all the fans were packed into the venue, the band were already starting their second song of their set. The crowd was unenthusiastic as they watched VersaEmerge perform, and only a few people seemed to actually know who they were. They are the one band that didn’t really fit this pop-saturated bill of bands being that their music is more theatrical and progressive. Sadly, this was considered a hometown show for VersaEmerge being that they’re from South Florida, but it was evident that they have yet to gain the notoriety of their hometown. Still, even with the crowd not being as engaged as the band would probably have liked them to be, it didn’t stop the band from keeping their energy up on stage and singer Sierra Kusterbeck from sounding any less amazing than usual.

Everyone in the audience (who is mostly comprised of, you guessed it, teenage fan-girls) seemed to know who A Rocket To The Moon was. The fans ate up the band’s sugary hooks and catchy choruses that each of their songs encompass. It seems as though the band’s singer/song-writer, Nick Santino, is a bit of a player, being that some of the songs he was singing were named after girls, like “Dakota” and “Annabelle.” He inadvertently admitted to this as he went into his next song saying “this one is about another girl.” Unlike for VersaEmerge, the crowd was really into A Rocket To The Moon’s set, so much even, that they started a circle pit. Shocked and happy at the same time, Santino said, regarding the circle pit “That’s a first!” By the end of his set, he deemed Ft. Lauderdale as having the best crowd thus far, and he later reiterated that statement on his twitter account.

Next up was the Maine, and for as many fans that were screaming for them when they came on stage, you would have thought they were the ones headlining the show that night. It’s funny how all the girls went crazy over the band, but they were the band that lacked the most energy on stage. They did, however, sound just like their album live, which could partially make up for the lack of energy they bring to their performance. The band seems to be following in the footsteps of All Time Low with getting bras thrown up on stage to them and knowing how to work all the girls in that crowd. For their very last song, the band brought up one lucky fan of theirs on stage to sing the chorus with them. The girl had the most stunned/happiest/about to cry out of joy expression on her face when she was up on stage singing the chorus. She whipped out her phone and O’Callaghan took it from her and took a picture of her on stage with them with her phone and she had a look of disbelief on her face the whole time. It was good to that the band obviously cares about their fans and that the insane amount of attention they get hasn’t gone to their heads yet.

Cobra Starship came on next and brought to the stage loads of energy and charisma. It’s always a dance party when Cobra Starship play, and they go the crowd going with their dance-pop beats and synthesizers. The thing about seeing Cobra Starship live is that it’s the same dance party each time. They say the same things (Ryland Blackinton and Alex Suarez always mention how they’re from South Florida every time they play down here), they do the same things (Gabe Saporta always has the ceremonious showing of how to put your “fangs up”) and really the only thing that is different are the songs that they play each time. This time around, they played mainly songs from their latest album Hot Mess and only a few songs from their sophomore release Viva La Cobra, and the only song they played off their debut album was “Bring It (Snakes On A Plane).” They ended their set with their current radio hit “Good Girls Go Bad” and got the crowd pumped and singing along one last time.

Finally, Boys Like Girls, headliners of this mini pop-fest, took to the stage next. Immediately when they got on stage, all the fans went wild. Their set consisted of new and old favorites such as “Lovedrunk,” and “Hero/Heroine.” It’s obvious that Boys Like Girls are professionals at what they do because they know how to interact with the crowd and keep the fans engaged from one song to the next. At one point during their set, singer Martin Johnson proclaimed that he wanted “to see the biggest friggin’ circle pit I’ve ever seen!” Then the band switched gears and slowed down the pace a little as they began to play their song “Thunder,” which Johnson told the audience, was the first song they ever wrote as a band. Hands began to arise out of the massive crowd, holding cell phones and cameras, and the fans swayed their gadgets, as if they were lighters, side-to-side, while the band played “Thunder.” Boys Like Girls commanded the stage, and you can tell that they were loving every minute of it too. When a band looks like they’re having fun on stage, it makes for a better show because that’ll get the fans more excited, and Boys Like Girls were definitely having a lot of fun with their show that night. They managed to even incorporate a drum session into their set, where drummer John Keefer was drumming alongside the track of mixed hip-hop songs like Lil Wayne’s “A Mili,” and Jay-Z ft. Rihanna’s “Run This Town.” It made for an entertaining intermission and then the rest of the band joined Keefer on stage and played the remainder of their set. The band ended the night with their hit song “The Great Escape,” and told all of their fans to join them up on stage for the last song. Caught up in the moment, Johnson dived into the crowd and all the fans were holding him up. Boys Like Girls made it a night to remember and a concert fans will never forget!

If you thought this show was going to be a show for sissys, then you thought wrong. There were circle pits, there was crowd-surfing, and there was stage diving like at any other rock show. If you missed out on this show, then you missed out on the best Fall tour this year!