Just like their opening number song, the band of Boys Like Girls led their fans into “The Great Escape” of pop rock music.
Clad in sleeveless shirts showing off countless tattoos and styled with shaggy hair and bits of eyeliner, Boys like Girls created an emo vibe in the Blue Note on Friday, Sept. 28. They, along with the Ready Set (“Love like Woe” and “Young Forever”) and Sick of the Day (“Circles”), gave fans a night of fist-pumping music that left ears ringing.
Even though they came back from a recent hiatus, the Boys Like Girls showed they were no foreigners to rocking out. Whether banging on the cymbals, slashing the guitar or simply telling jokes to the crowd, there was never a dull moment during the concert. By the end of the night, the the band was throwing out blunted guitar picks and cracked drumsticks to the audience.
With hands constantly trying to reach one another, fans enjoyed the added opportunities to grab anything with Boys Like Girls’ sweat smeared across it.
The band formed in 2005 in Andover, Mass.,  but it wasn’t until September 2009 with the release of their second album “Love Drunk” that Boys Like Girls really gained popularity. Hit singles such as “Love Drunk,” and “Two is Better Than One” topped the charts. It was these old favorites along with new ones on their upcoming album (“Be Your Everything” and “Life of the Party”) that made the concert a very crowd-pleasing event. Hair was shaking and feet were moving all to the crazy beats of the music.
During the music introductions of some of their slower songs, it was here that members of Boys Like Girls showed their skills of connecting to the audience. Throughout the concert, Martin Johnson, lead vocalist of the group, kept shouting “M-I-Z” with the crowd answering in  a unified “Z-O-U!” Laughing, Johnson even said it was going to be their new pump-up chant.
When the band was halfway finished singing “Love Drunk,” near the end of the concert, Johnson abruptly circled his hand to signify his band to stop. For the next five minutes, Johnson told the crowd this was his and their moment and there was no need to record the performance on their smart phones. He noted there were probably millions of videos of them on Youtube. In fact, he reminded the audience at that point it was everyone at the Blue Note’s momen.
Johnson finished his speech by encouraging the audience to enjoy the concert while it lasts. The band restarted “Love Drunk” and fans screamed even louder.
With the craziness and uproar starting right at 8 p.m. all the way up to 11 p.m, it was a night full of hardcore rock. Even though the noise was sometimes a little too loud and some bodies were a little too close, I still succumbed to “The Great Escape” of it all. Boys Like Girls delivered.
By Stazi Prost
Look out for the Boys Like Girls third Album, “Crazy World,” to be released Dec. 11, 2012.
Did you attend the Boys Like Girls concert? Are any of their songs your absolute favorite? Share it with us below!