Last week I attended “The Soundtrack of Your Life” tour at The Fillmore in Silver Spring, Maryland that featured the opening acts of Arrows In Action and I Don’t Know How But They Found Me, and was headlined by Boys Like Girls. Each of the bands put on a great set of music that covered multiple phases of their respective careers, and the fans in attendance for the sold out concert showed their appreciation for the three-band lineup throughout the evening. While the openers did a great job of getting the crowd ready for Boys Like Girls, it was the headliners who rightfully stole the show by burning through two full albums (Love Drunk and Boys Like Girls) in breakneck fashion. Boys Like Girls put on one hell of a performance, they showed their deepest of appreciation for their fans who spent their hard-earned money to see them, and simultaneously proved the lasting power of the pop-punk genre.
Arrows In Action
The three-piece pop rock band, Arrows In Action, kicked things off in Silver Spring with a high-energy set that included material from each of their releases. Lead vocalist, Victor Viramontes-Pattison, showcased some impressive vocals live that mirrored his captivating performance on Arrows In Action’s great new LP, I Think I’ve Been Here Before. As the set unfolded, the band engaged with the sold out crowd by inviting them to sing along, clap to the beats, and wave their hands from side to side, which they were more than happy to oblige. The six-song set included their breakthrough smash of “Cheekbones”, which closed out their performance, and their newest single from the deluxe version of their new album called “Stop Talking.” It was on the latter that guitarist Matthew Fowler used the beat and vocal cadence of Victor from the opening bars of “Stop Talking” to do the macarena dance for the adoring crowd. Drummer Jesse Frimmel got out from behind the kit for some additional vocals on “Head in the Clouds” to round out the band’s attack.
I Don’t Know How But They Found Me
Next up was the project from Dallon Weekes, called I Don’t Know How But They Found Me, who started off their set with the self-aware song from Razzmatazz called “Nobody Likes The Opening Band.” Weekes and his touring bandmates thrilled and shook their way through the 11-song set that leaned more heavily on their recent LP of Gloom Division. The crowd seemed less familiar with the material than what they heard from Arrows In Action, but things started to take off for the band when they launched into 1981 Extended Play tracks like “Choke” and “Do It All The Time.” The band eventually won the crowd over, and by the time their set wrapped, the crowd showed their appreciation and was sufficiently warmed up for Boys Like Girls.
Boys Like Girls
When the lights went out and it was time for Boys Like Girls to take the stage, the old school TV sets in the background of the stage began to play some old video clips of major events that occurred during the same time that Love Drunk was released in 2009. After some thunderous kick drums from John Keefe, lead guitarist Jamel Hawke and bassist Gregory James entered next, followed shortly thereafter by lead vocalist/guitarist Martin Johnson who was armed with a tambourine and got the crowd moving early before launching into “Heart Heart Heartbreak.” The crowd noise was deafening, and some of the vocals were a little hard to distinguish until about halfway through the song until the tech crew made the necessary adjustments. As the band settled into their opening set of playing Love Drunk from front to back, the wave of nostalgia washed over the crowd like a warm blanket as we all experienced these great pop-punk tunes like we were hearing them for the first time all over again. Martin’s stage banter was top notch as he shared stories between the songs and expressed gratitude to the fans who came out to support the band, or as he mentioned, “You help feed our families.” On “She’s Got a Boyfriend Now” Martin laughed at the lyric of “I’m 23 and I’m invincible,” by briefly pausing to mention that he just turned 40. The band continues to age gracefully and looks as cool as they’ve ever been, donned in leather jackets and great rockstar attire.
The band took a 10-minute break after ripping through the entirety of Love Drunk, and the old school televisions in the background featured a countdown clock to keep fans engaged and ready for the self-titled era that was to follow. By the time the first few notes of “The Great Escape” were played, the crowd kicked into a whole new level and shouted along to every lyric. When Boys Like Girls got to the ballad of “Thunder”, Martin shared a story of how he would wait for his crush to appear on AOL Instant Messenger and how he lost the girl to someone who said she “was the soundtrack of my summer”. Martin shared, “He got the girl, but we got the song,” which seems like a pretty fair trade in retrospect. Boys Like Girls’ energetic set featured very few lulls in the action, and once the band got to “Holiday” they decided to do a mini-encore/reprise of “The Great Escape/Love Drunk” to put the perfect exclamation point on a great evening. The power of pop-punk was on full display throughout the concert, and Boys Like Girls reignited the flames of nostalgia perfectly.
