Imagine the scene: it’s Friday night, downtown at Powerplant Live, and a well-known band is headlining. Suddenly the vibe is interrupted by the screams of a couple hundred 14 year old girls.
On stage, performing at Rams Head, there are six guys in a similar style of attire ranging from skinny white pants to t-shirt button downs with rolled up sleeves, wallet chains hanging out of their back pockets, and shaggy hair.
They are The Maine, an American rock band hailing from Phoenix, Arizona.
Initially The Maine was said to be headlining for NeverShoutNever (Christopher Drew), however that was not the case as they ended up opening for him.
The concert opened with the Maine’s lead singer, hairstyle reminiscent to that of a cockatoo’s, hanging desperately onto the microphone stand and the guitarist strumming robotically.
It was your typical teen dream concert. The fans were incredibly energetic and filled up the three balcony levels at the venue.
During “Listen to Your Heart,” the lead singer (John O’Callaghan) held up a beer and the crowd went crazy.
It seemed that one of the most unique things about this concert was the crowd’s eager participation to harmonize along with the frequent “woohoos,” common to a boy band.
The band, which had its logo projected onto the speakers behind them, played “Rolling Up” a song the crowd didn’t seem familiar with, leading the lead singer to beg “please sing along if you know this, guys.”
The band would frequently stop to talk to the audience, at which the audience felt it necessary to scream at every pause. Despite their unparalleled devotion to their fans, lead singer John “Ohh” asked the audience to “save that for later.”
Interestingly, the band chose to incorporate other acts within their performance: “remember the song by Montel Williams . . . this is how we do it and its Friday night and we’re in BALTIMORE!” This created a roar in the crowd.
After yet another pause to address the crowd, the band played “Girls Do What They Want,” a song from their older album with an adapted chorus.
Not only did the crowd seem to recognize this song well, but it appeared to be dear to John Ohh’s heart as his veins visibly stick out of his neck during this performance. He screamed out “is anyone gonna party with us tonight?”
Before playing “Fuel to the fire,” a song from their newer album, John Ohh told the crowd, “Alright, I want everyone to feel sexy during this song.”
There was no doubt that the band takes their music (there were multiple guitar changes and tune ups) and their fan base seriously. John Ohh reached into the crowd, picked up a camera, took a picture of the crowd screaming, and gave it back to the overjoyed fan.
The band took another interlude to introduce some members like Matthew “Nasty” on the keyboards and Mike on bass claiming that they were “no strangers to the Baltimore-DC area,” having been there for a camp years before.
They let the crowd know that “when we’re done playing, we’re gonna tear this place up you better f*$kin believe it,” the under 18 tween population loved it.
The Maine then performed “Don’t Stop Now,” the first song of their album Black and White, yelling at the crowd that “this is rock ‘n’ roll. No one should be stayin’ still right now.”
They played their most popular song “Into your Arms,” which received a promotional spot on the new Blackberry Bold 9700 (the device comes preloaded with 45 seconds of the music video). Everyone in the crowd, swaying their arms back and forth, knew the lyrics well. John Ohh stepped back and let them finish the song.
John Ohh segued into his next song by saying that “obviously everyone in this building isn’t here just to see our band” to which the crowd violently responded in unison, “That’s not true.” He asked the crowd to “give it up and scream, there’s two more songs.”
The band then played this eccentric game where they would introduce a random band allegedly coming up to play after them and then play a sound bite of the band’s most popular song.
To further create a discrepancy between appropriateness and their fan base, the band claimed that their next song “Inside of you” was about the time John Ohh kissed Christopher Drew (the bassist claimed it’s because “he’s so hot right now”).
Allegedly a metaphor, the crowd knew the lyrics
to this song well and shouted them back. At some point, a female fan threw a bag of Sour Patch kids at the lead singer (his candy of choice).
The band closed with “We’ll All Be” during which all the band members turned to each other in a circle and just jammed, letting the audience witness an intimate bonding session.
The crowd threw up heart signals by putting their hands together.
Overall the concert, although cliché in the interactions between fans and musicians, offered a lot of energy and good crowd.
