November 27th-Boys Like Girls at Showcase Live.

This is my first attempt at a full show review here at Mix and Mark so take it with a possible grain of salt and a whole lot of fun last night.

I was there to do interviews with a few of the bands being The Maine, A Rocket To The Moon and VersaEmerge but un like other shows I've attended in the last few weeks, this was one that I couldn't, didn't want to take pictures at. It was truly one of those shows that I was just completely into from the first band on. Who hasn't heard Boys Like Girls lately on the radio, including their current single Lovedrunk? Considering this was a hometown show too (and also for Rocket To The Moon), they decided to switch it up from the past dates on the tour and played Showcase Live.
If you don't know about this awesome venue, Showcase Live actually is right next to Gillette Stadium (Yes, where the Patriots play!) and it is an awesome little music club. With capacity being under 1,000, it was a very intimate setting and a great way, in Martin's words "to end the tour in their own hometown".
The Love Drunk tour also brought along current chart topper, Cobra Starship who are one of my personal favorite bands ever which was awesome. Along with The Maine, A Rocket To The Moon and VersaEmerge, this tour was a definite no miss. We got there pretty early for an interview that ended up being delayed but we filled the time by videotaping girls in line (there were maybe four boys in the whole club) giving a shout out to their favorite band on the tour (and sometimes person) which I'll be editing together as a promo video. These fans were amazingly hardcore considering it was pouring rain and completely freezing.
Around four pm, we sat down for our first interview with Kennedy from The Maine on their recently upgraded form of transportation, the tour bus! We talked to Pat Kirch the drummer also which really was him going to the bathroom and answering a question at the same time (It's pretty epic! Will definitely have to put up the recordings of my interviews from last night!). After the interview, we headed back inside the club to meet up with Nick Santino and Andrew Cook of a Rocket To The Moon. The venue of our interview was definitely the most interesting one I've had. We ended up doing the interview standing between two of those luggage racks you use in hotels to move your suitcases, but it just made the interview more entertaining. We talked about Andrew's secret favorite place to play a show, he wants to play a set on the Chuckie Cheese stage where all the mechanical animals sing and dance. Pat from the Maine even tweeted this later: Chuckey Cheese House band.
Last but definitely not least, we swung by the catering room to interview the up and coming band VersaEmerge. This was the most casual I'd say of all the interviews but definitely the most entertaining. During the interview random members of Boys Like Girls and Cobra Starship would come in to grab a drink, and kept on shushing each other. After this interview, we were lead into the actual seating area of the club and bumped arms with Gabe Saporta as they were doing a meet and greet.

Now on to the show!
First up was Bozo The Clown, a friend of Boys Like Girls who plays acoustic guitar, it was a cute sweet start to the show and about five minutes after he went off stage, on came VersaEmerge!VersaEmerge may seem rough and tough, an in your face type of band while on stage but offstage are like a cute little family. They have gone through some rough times in the last few months losing both co founding member and drummer Anthony Martone (farthest to the right) and as of just six days ago Jerry Pierce who was present during the interview, but on stage do not show it at all. The crowd was definitely feeling Sierra's both haunting and amazing vocal talent and rocked to their set. I ended up being second row for the entirety of the show so we made some silly eye contact during the show as the people surrounding me were not feeling any of the opening bands and clearly were there for only Boys Like Girls.

Next up was my personal favorite of the night (with the rest of the bands as a very close second): A Rocket To The Moon.

A Rocket To The Moon first came onto my radar after they were pretty much a buzz word on the lips of every Warped Tour musician I interviewed. They have quickly become a music industry favorite and on of music fans everywhere. During our interview, we talked about their aspirations to be the Chuckie Cheese house band to their current favorite song to play live (personal favorite being Annabelle) and they rocked all of my favorites. They charmed their way into the girls hearts in the audience starting out the set with their ACDC cover and smoothly transitioned with hits like Annabelle, Dakota and Mr. Right, playing also their current favorite live song 'Give A Damn'. My personal favorite live changed that night, as they warned me it might. It's now by far Dakota, but it may just be the song. I've had it on repeat for a while today, and I definitely fell in love with the lyrics. See the shaky video below I found today from last night's show:




I'll be catching these boys once again on December 19th at Jingle My Bells and I'm definitely looking forward to it. Then came the Maine, who had the same amount of affection and love from the fans before the show as the headliner.
Straight from the babe's mouth Gabe Saporta calls these boys "the boys who make me wish I was gay", The Maine was ready to rock. The lead singer of this energetic bunch, John O'Callaghan was under the weather though and unfortunately it showed as he would constantly turn his head to look at who I presume was their tour manager Max but still, they put on an amazing show. Churning out their now famous cover that started getting some set time this summer, "Pour Some Sugar On Me" only the second song in, the crowd got completely rawled up. Heading right into "Into Your Arms" then "Everything I Ask For" which was complete with a dance pit that included John, the boys were on fire and definitely in their element. They told the crowd that they were sad to leave the bands and the fans, but happy to head back to Arizona since they are writing their new record and ended off on an amazing note with "Girls Do What They Want". Obviously hurting but still enjoying the show, below see a little snippet of their Pour Some Sugar on Me cover!


Then, I was ready for my third Cobra Starship show this year. They absolutely rocked it, and put on an amazing set. I definitely had a few favorite moments.

The definitely most exciting moment for me was the introduction to "Bring It (Snakes on a plane)" when Gabe calls for the cobras. As we shot our fangs into the air, no one in front of us or in the surrounding area actually knew what it was about so as Gabe came over to our side of the stage, it may just be me but we made some eye contact as we did for several points of the show. I've met Gabe in the past and this may just be his way but it definitely seemed like it happened. If you know me, I adore this band and definitely thought it was awesome. Mr. Saporta tends to recognize people who go to shows in the same area, which is something really great about this band.
Another great moment was the part of Bring It! where normally someone gets pulled on stage to do the Travis McCoy rap. This has been recently what the band has done and they reverted back to old times last night when they actually sang hollaback boy, along with Sierra from VersaEmerge joining in.
They had songs from all three albums including "The City Is At War", "Hot Mess", obviously "Good Girls Go Bad", their mainstay "Guilty Pleasure" and my personal favorite that also made a return last night, Pete Wentz Is The Only Reason We're famous. The crowd still was sulking a little bit besides when they played Good Girls which was kind of depressing but still made me happy since it seemed Gabe was trying extra hard to amp up the crowd. Can't wait till they go on a headliner tour again and the crowd is more into it. Same idea as Hellogoodbye touring with Hanson?!



Last but most definitely not least was Boys Like Girls. The crowd was completely amped for them to come on and so was I. Right from the beginning when Martin came out in the spotlight on stage singing "I Got A Feeling" and jumping seamlessly into LoveDrunk. They played both new and old, with a focus on the old playing such crowd and personal favorites as Hero/Heroine, Five Minutes to Midnight, Dance Hall Drug (complete with a circle pit!) and Thunder. My all time favorite from this band is Heels Over Head and when Martin asked what old song the crowd wanted to hear, it was an overwhelming request for the song and the performance was on fire! Their encore ended on "The Great Escape" which had to be expected, considering how huge it was for them and the ending was insane. They invited the first few rows on stage which I was included in and we all just sang in unison and danced around like fools. It was a great show and I was definitely not disappointed!




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Thanks for reading my first full show review! It may be a little all over the place but I had a great time over all! Thanks for reading and look for interviews with A Rocket To The Moon, The Maine and VersaEmerge VERY soon! Silverstein tomorrow! xo