OP Presents Recap

As you all probably know, Sunday night was the Op Presents Boys Like Girls tour...



Unfortunately, I missed pretty much all of VersaEmerge's set. I did get to catch the last song, and from what I heard, it was pretty decent. I need to see them again to fully make up my mind about them though.



I've been dying to see A Rocket to the Moon for some time now. I wasn't really a fan of their music in the band's early stage (the earlier music was more electronic based-think Owl City). But ever since Greeting From... debuted, I've been a big fan. I wasn't able to see much of the band (I was sitting down, for some reason it didn't occur to me to STAND UP) so I can only really base their performance off of sound alone. Frankly, it wasn't the greatest performance. Nick, the lead vocalist, wasn't always consistent with his pitches. Songs like Mr. Right, were clearly way out of his range and he struggled trying to reach the high notes. The band was personable with the crowd though-which is a very important factor in terms of a good performance. As far as their energy is concerned, I have to cut them some slack because three of the four members aren't able move around a lot (the lead singer also plays rhythm guitar, the lead guitarist has a lot of back-up vocals, and the drummer, well, is drumming) If they could find a way to be more amped up, along with better note accuracy, they would make for a must-see performance. In any case, I'm impatiently waiting for their next Chicago performance.



The Maine is by far one of my favorite bands. I honestly just can't get enough of them (I couldn't put down Can't Stop, Won't Stop for months). And as far as this genre goes, they're probably one of the better bands to see live. There's so much character and spontaneity in their performances, and not just in the lead singer (who, by the way has an amazing stage presence), but all of them. The bassist, Garret, literally bounced around the stage like a beast for their entire 30 minute set (you'll see what I mean in the video). I value playmenship in a performance (which they always deliver on) but I more so value a band's personality-and The Maine never holds back.



Let me just say, Gabe Saporta knows how to work a damn stage. But I wasn't overly impressed with Cobra on sunday-I'm not saying it was a bad performance, it's just that I've seen everything they have to offer before. Sure, the set list was different but if you've seen Gabe dance once, you've seen him dance a million times.



As I was watching the stage crew set up for Boys Like Girls, I couldn't help think to myself, "Who the hell do these kids think they are?" The stage they put together looked fit for a performance by the Jonas Brothers or Fall Out Boy. I know they're the headliners, but I just feel like Boys Like Girls has a little too much confidence in themselves...a couple of videos and a segment on MTV doesn't make you the shit. I was further baffled when they opened their set with their latest single, Love Drunk. I thought it was performance 101 that you save your  most popular song for last...Even if Love Drunk isn't their most popular song, you just don't open your set with your most recent song. I ended up not staying to watch the rest of their set, but the times that I have seen them, they've always put on a good show so I'm sure Sunday night was no different.

All in all, it was a good show but not worth the thirty bucks I payed to go. As much as I love these bands and their music, it's gotten a bit old. I've seen all of them (with the exception of ARTTM) on several occasions, heard them perform the same songs-and it's just not new anymore. Of course there were other factors that played into the night, but I think if it had truly been a great show, it would've cancelled out all the other shit.

By the way, these videos are from other people who were at the show