Boys Like Girls Rock Boston for "Soundtrack of Your Summer Fest"
Photos: Jocelyn Ratzer / Rachel Ford / edited by daniella.psd
August 29 –– Boys Like Girls “turned it up” to 11 in Boston for one final run of the songs that made up the soundtrack of our teenage years.
The hometown boys finally returned to Beantown for their long-awaited homecoming on August 29th for the “Soundtrack of Your Summer Fest,” and brought 2000s pop-punk era faves Hit The Lights, Cute Is What We Aim For, and Cartel with them.
After the three-band warm-up, Boys Like Girls hit the stage and set the place on fire, welcoming a crowd of nearly 5,000 at the Leader Bank Pavilion to the last “official” show celebrating the 20th and 17th anniversaries of their first two albums, playing each album in full, front-to-back - nearly exactly 20 years after the release of their self-titled debut.
With pyro and leather jackets in tow, the band’s energy was higher than ever to celebrate these albums in the place where it all started. The two-hour set started with “Heart Heart Heartbreak,” the opening song from their sophomore album, 2009’s Love Drunk, and then continued through the entire album, featuring songs like “Chemicals Collide,” which, throughout this tour, surprised the band with how much fans enjoyed it, and ballads like “Go,” always leading to tears in the crowd.
After the conclusion of “Go,” the band took a 10-minute intermission for outfit changes and swapping out the drumhead from the Love Drunk album art to the self-titled album art.
Even after that break, vocalist Martin Johnson, as well as guitarist Jamel Hawke, bassist Greg James, and drummer John “Beef” Keefe, have no problem taking control of the crowd the second they return to the stage.
The crowd roared as the opening notes of “The Great Escape” started, arguably the band’s biggest hit, and that energy continued as “5 Minutes to Midnight,” “Hero/Heroine,” and “On Top of the World” rang through the streets of the Boston Seaport district as the band had a great time interacting with the crowd and throwing guitar picks into the pyro for added entertainment.
Before “Thunder,” Martin paused to tell the story of how the track came to be - inspired by an old high school crush and her AIM away message about another guy, he notes that the guy got that girl, but he got the song, the album, the tour, and what would become the soundtrack of our lives over the last two decades.
The high-energy set continued, including a “Yankees suck” chant encouraged by Johnson, because why would it not when the Red Sox are away, playing the Yankees, and down 4-1 in the middle of the show.
When the band got to “Holiday,” the final track on the self-titled album, Martin again paused to address the crowd, teasing that we have to “wait until next year for the next chapter in the soundtrack of our lives.”
The show ended with a “Love Drunk”/”The Great Escape” reprise, ending with one lucky fan catching a tambourine thrown by Johnson, and ensuring the night ended with the highest possible energy before officially retiring and saying goodbye to many of these songs.
The entire night was full of nostalgia, smiles, tears, and genuine appreciation - both from the band to fans, and fans showing the band how much they mattered to our lives growing up.
Boys Like Girls is here to stay, and for this writer, who became a fan several months before their debut album first released back in 2006, it’s been a joy and a privilege to attend several Boys Like Girls shows this year, and an honor to have been here since the beginning. I have had the opportunity to share my story and make some incredible friends around the globe in the process, who I would not have known if not for this band. I can’t wait to see what the next 20 years will bring.
Boys Like Girls has truly been the soundtrack of my life, and millions of others can say the same. Stay tuned for what’s next - it’s sure to be bigger and better than ever.
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