When Boys Like Girls announced their Soundtrack of Your Life tour, I knew I had to be there. BLG is celebrating the 20th anniversary release of their self-titled album and the 17th anniversary of their second album, Love Drunk. Twenty years means a lot. And to me, it meant even more. It meant 20 years of life that happened between a 13-year-old me and a 30-year-old me. A lot has changed in my life, but not my taste in music. They were literally the “soundtrack of my summer” for multiple summers as a teen. Including Sunday night, I think I have seen them a total of 5 times since I turned 13, and each time it has been memorable.
“2 albums, 2 hours” lead singer Marty Johnson kept repeating and shouting into the crowd. Each time, it felt even more impassioned than the last. He said it because he knew how much these songs meant to a generation. And honestly, during the final stretch, my body began to feel the last two hours.
This show felt different than others. It felt nostalgic like how shows used to feel before we grew up. It was a community of alt and emo kids who grew up but never apart. A community that is still connected by the music we hold dear to our hearts and it showed. Couples singing and dancing together, parents holding their children close and swaying with them and groups of friends standing shoulder to shoulder singing all the lyrics back to the band, this is what music is about. It’s a time capsule to the little moments and for one brief moment in time, the world is quiet and it’s just you, the people you love and music.
That is what “emo” music reminds me of. All those times before things got complicated and we had adult things to deal with. Standing in the middle of the pit, I remembered the first time I heard “The Great Escape.” I was next door at my neighbor’s house. There were four teens and preteens huddled around a desktop computer with dial-up, showing each other some of our favorite songs. I remember playing All Time Low’s “Dear Maria, Count Me In” and seeing the thumbnail to “The Great Escape” in the recommended for you section on YouTube. After clicking on that video, I knew this was a band I had to see live, and shortly after, I did. I have the ticket to prove it. I even brought the ticket with me to the show because that’s how much it meant to me to be back 17 years later but this time as a photographer and fan.
Opening with their 2nd studio album, “Love Drunk,” fans were ecstatic to hear “Heart, Heart, Heartbreak,” “Love Drunk,” and “She’s Got a Boyfriend Now.” Followed by slowing down for “Two is Better than One,” an acoustic ballad that originally featured Taylor Swift before she became mainstream. They continued down the album in tracklist order before a short intermission and then… They remerged on stage and “The Great Escape” began. This sent the crowd into a frenzy, phones came out, voices were louder than ever before and it was time to hear their self-titled album front to back for the first time in twenty years.
