Photographs and Review by Christa Settle
I was so excited to cover this tour! You couldn’t ask for a better line-up of bands together in one night. I’ve been a fan of The All-American Rejects since 2005, Boys Like Girls since 2008, and The Ready Set since 2010. Photographing these bands perform and interact with their fans really made me love them all so much more. I’m sure it’s the same for the rest of the concert attendees as well.
When The All-American Rejects perform, they really bring it all! Lead singer Tyson Ritter moves all around stage and really puts his whole heart into performing their music. He gets down on his knees, he wraps the microphone cord all around his wrist and arm, and he even lays down on the stage and belts out the lyrics to their hit songs “Dirty Little Secret”, “Move Along”, “Give You Hell”, and more! His energy on stage is amazing and his commentary to the crowd is entertaining. He told the crowd, “I’m scared of all these girls in the front row! Because behind all your excited eyes is a cold-hearted woman ready to harpoon a man’s dick off!” as he introduced one of his songs which he said was about taking that harpoon back. But Tyson doesn’t steal the whole show, there’s Nick Wheeler (lead guitar, backing vocals), Mike Kennerty (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Chris Gaylor (drums, percussion) and Matt Rubano (bass guitar) who are all full of amazing energy, often jumping in mid-air while strumming their guitars and just rocking out having a great time on stage performing for the fans.
The All-American Rejects setlist:
- Dirty Lil’ Secret
- Fallin’ Apart
- My Paper Heart
- Beekeeper’s Daughter
- I Wanna
- Walk Over
- Swing, Swing
- Mona Lisa
- It Ends Tonight
- Gonzo
- Move Along
Encore: 12. Kids In The Street 13. Heartbeat 14. Gives You Hell
This was my second time seeing Boys Like Girls live but my first time photographing them. Their set included songs from their recent EP, “Crazy World”, and of course all of their hit songs from their 2008 self-titled album, and their 2009 album “Love Drunk”. The best part of seeing Boys Like Girls live is how down to Earth they are! Their whole set is about connecting with their fans! They spend time between a few of their songs to talk to the crowd and interact with them. Martin Johnson, the lead singer of Boys Like Girls, climbed up on the guardrail and held hands with a bunch of excited fans. He walked along the guardrail from the middle of the crowd to the end of the left side of the crowd holding hands and singing right to the fans. Paul DiGiovanni (lead guitar, backing vocals) and Morgan Dorr (bass guitar, backing vocals) spend a lot of their time looking right into the eyes of many of their fans and pointing and waving to them. John Keefe (drums) also interacts as much as he can. John was the first one on stage, and he stared right at his fans while getting the crowd clapping for the rest of the band to join him on stage. They also invited one lucky girl to sing the female verses with them of “Two is Better Than One” which is sung by Taylor Swift on their album. The lucky girl was ushered on stage, given a mic and a stool and sang with Martin, while Paul recorded it all on the girl’s cell phone.
One of the greatest moments of the show was during the last song, “Love Drunk”, when Martin stopped the song and said: “We are here. I’m here. Paul is here, John is here, and Morgan is here. And you all are here. You could go home and see tons of videos and pictures of our performance, but we are all here now. So why watch this on your three inch screen now? So let’s all put down our phones and cameras and enjoy being here right now. Now, let’s try this again!” Then the band started “Love Drunk” over again. I couldn’t clap hard enough after he gave that speech. I completely agree with what he said, and I love that someone finally said it. Just about everyone put down their phones and cameras. It was an amazing last song. It felt like finally everyone was really there together. After Boys Like Girls finished their set, they took the time to come down into the pit for a while and meet their fans. They hugged, talked to, and took photos with their fans. It was amazing to see a band care so much for their fans.
Boys Like Girls setlist:
- Be Your Everything Remix
- The Great Escape
- Hero/Heroine
- Heels Over Head
- Be Your Everything
- Life of the Party
- Thunder (mixed with Some Nights)
- She’s Got A Boyfriend Now
- Two is Better Than One
- The First Time
- Love Drunk
The Ready Set started the night out right by hyping up the fans with his high energy and bubbly electronica pop hits. Jordan Witzigreuter, the singer/songwriter of The Ready Set, is a storm of energy on stage, as he constantly jumps and runs around the stage. His touring band members were full of energy as well, most notably the drummer, who whipped his long hair while drumming! His touring members are: Cameron Walker (guitar, backing vocals), Deryck Stanek (bass), and Travis Rountree (drums). Jordan puts his heart and soul into his music and performing for his fans. His lyrics are well thought out and easy to remember. He definitely had the crowd chanting his lyrics, especially to his hits like “Young Forever”, “Love Like Woe” and “Give Me Your Hand [Best Song Ever]”. Jordan added a fun rendition to his set of the viral internet hit “Gangnam Style” by Psy where Jordan got on the drums and played to the beat for a few minutes of the track. The fans loved this!
The Ready Set setlist:
- More Than Alive
- Young Forever
- Spinnin
- Killer
- Carry Me Home
- Gangnam Style
- Give Me Your Hand [Best Song Ever]
- Love Like Woe
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