The Ready Set, Nevershoutnever! and Boys Like Girls already had big competition coming in to Toronto, as All Time Low was headlining a show down the street with Cartel and We The Kings. But BLG still managed to play to a full house. The licensed area was empty all night as most of the fans were young 16-year-old girls. The Ready Set did a great job of getting everyone up and jumping, ready for Boys Like Girls to come out and rock the stage - but first, Nevershoutnever! took the spotlight. Chris came out with his harmonica and his ukulele and started the set. Out came the rest of his stage band and performed songs like Liar Liar, and Happy. I couldn't help but notice that there was more than one drum set on stage, as another member of this 6-piece band was also playing percussion. The frontliners also switched up positions every couple of songs - they would rotate and take turns between the keys and guitar. At one point the bassist even went for the violin. With every song, came a personal introduction. Chris shared every detail of his life with the audience - including how he lost his virginity at the age of 16 in the back seat of his car... and apparantly it hurt real bad. They also did a fantastic cover of "I want to hold your hand" by the Beatles - where Nevershoutnever! was able to have every person in the building holding hands with the person beside them. It was as if the audience was under the charming spell of Nevershoutnever! If Chris said jump, they jumped. If he said do spirit fingers, the crowd gave him spirit fingers. I have never seen a band interact with the audience on such a personal level before. The show could've ended at that point... but as Nevershoutnever! left the stage, Boys Like Girls came out with a bang - at least for their first song, "Love Drunk". The next few songs sounded good, but you could tell the guys were not only tired, but bored of playing all old material. They just looked bored, which in turn, made me feel the same way. About 3/4 of the way through their set, they must've found their second wind. During "Thunder" (the first song they ever wrote together as a band), they finally picked it up a bit, followed by another new track off of their upcoming album "Love Drunk" (being released September 8th). The rest of their set was packed with energy, which was reassuring. BLG came back out to play a 2-song encore which included "Holiday" and "The Great Escape". As for all of those lucky fans lined up against the front barrier? Boys Like Girls invited all of them up on stage during The Great Escape. As bodies were flying over the front barrier, BLG mentioned that they would be coming back to Toronto in the fall with Cobra Starship and The Maine. So although Nevershoutnever! stole the show for me this time around, the guys in Boys Like Girls will have a chance to redeem themselves - because there's no way I'm going to miss the chance to see them play all of their new material in the fall!
