It feels like just yesterday that emo music was at it’s peak and my friends and I were lining up at 10am in front of the Kool Haus to try and get a barricade spot for Boys Like Girls’ Soundtrack Of Your Summer Tour. Somehow 15 years (including an 11 year gap between albums) managed to sneak up on us since that tour. With such a large gap between releases and tours, it brings the question, “Will they sound as good as I remember them being?” Well, I’m happy to report that Boys Like Girls’ fourth studio album, Sunday At Foxwoods, is a bop and vocalist Martin Johnson’s voice is still as smooth as butter.
Opening up the show was Toronto’s own, LØLØ, who captivated the audience with her infectiously catchy pop-rock tunes. It honestly felt like a throwback to classic acts such as Skye Sweetnam and Fefe Dobson, and I absolutely loved every second of it. Her set was followed up with performances from The Summer Set and State Champs. Both are no strangers to the scene as they’ve seen their fair share of Warped Tour main stages and really know how to work a crowd to get everyone hyped for what was to come later in the night.
As 9:10 rolled around, it was finally the moment we’ve all been waiting for. The lights dimmed as the band appeared on stage to the title track off of their new album, Sunday At Foxwoods. The set list started off really strong as they wasted no time to jump into their smash hits “Love Drunk” and “Five Minutes To Midnight.” It sometimes felt like you could hear the fans louder than the band as they were singing every word as loud as they could. The set was filled with a great mix of new and old songs as they seemed to alternate between the two throughout the night. Even though Sunday At Foxwoods was released part way through the tour, the band had released enough singles that fans were able to get familiar with the new material beforehand and be excited to hear them live.
While introducing “Thunder,” Johnson took the crowd down memory lane as he set the scene of downloading Boys Like Girls’ debut album from Limewire onto our parents’ computer, buying a CD burner, and then burning a few copies. One to play in the car and some extra just in case the first didn’t work out. Then he proceeded to pop the bubble and jokingly said we could make it up to him by buying some of the overpriced merch from their merch table and he would totally forgive us for stealing his music back in the day. I thought it was hilarious, and he definitely had me swayed to go pick something up after the show.
The only downside to having such an extensive repertoire of hit songs was that they had to create melodies in order to try and accommodate as many fan favourites as possible. I would have much rather have heard the songs in full and then catch them on their next tour in order to hear the rest. On the flip side, what I thought was really fun was the fact that the band re-recorded their single “The Outside” with some of the bands on the tour so they could perform it together during the set. It was nice to see the whole room get excited as Derek from State Champs and Brian from The Summer Set appeared on stage.
As the night came to a close, Johnson thanked everyone for coming out to the show and for knowing the words to the new songs as well. He said he knew how hard it could be when a band you grew up with releases new music and that he was grateful we gave Sunday At Foxwoods a chance. It felt like a really special moment to have him acknowledge that, you could tell he was genuinely thankful for everyone that showed up. After his speech, Johnson had one last trick up his sleeve and asked everyone to get their cell phones ready, as they were about to play the song everyone was waiting to hear, “The Great Escape.” The band started the song, made it to the first chorus and then stopped. Johnson then told the crowd that now everyone has the video they wanted for their socials, so now it was time to put our phones away and just enjoy the moment as they start it again from the top. I thought this was an absolutely brilliant idea and the crowd absolutely lost it as they sang along and moshed. It was the perfect way to end the night.
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Be sure to check out Looters + Live Nation Ontario to see all of the other great acts that they will be bringing to Toronto this year.
