The Maine at House of Blues Anaheim

Home icon Home»Concert Reviews»The Maine at House of Blues Anaheim

Written by Brittany Woolsey

Friday, 17 June 2011 23:38

Hundreds of shrieking adolescent girls filled the House of Blues Anaheim Thursday night as heartthrobs The Maine performed for a sold out crowd.The quintet from Tempe, Arizona performed a handful of songs from their two releases, “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop” (2008) and “Black and White,” (2010) as well as songs from their upcoming album, which is set to begin recording this fall.

Kicking off with “Good Love,” the stage was dark with hues of blue as the boys approached the stage, setting a mood of anticipation for the mostly female audience. However, when the lights came up during “Listen to Your Heart,” the girls began shrieking as soon as John O’Callaghan began singing.For those first two songs, O’Callaghan only performed vocals, but then grabbed his acoustic guitar to play “Into Your Arms” and the rest of the set.

Throughout the set, it became clear that despite recent fame, The Maine are still humble and caring toward their fans. Some girls toward the front of the crowd said they were thirsty, and O’Callaghan acknowledged them and tossed them a bottle of water from the stage. The Maine also sang a spontaneous happy birthday song for fans in the audience after a crowd member asked them to.

The Maine also played slightly-different, yet still entertaining versions of some of their songs. Instead of its usual pop sound, “Everything I Ask For” was performed with smooth Reggae-like grooves and short breaks to serve for audience a capella.

“This next song is about a time when I got beat up in high school,” O’Callaghan said to introduce “Inside of You.” When the song was released in 2010, it was obvious that the boys of The Maine were playing songs with a more alternative and mature sound, rather than pop.

“I need Anaheim to be way fucking louder than Los Angeles,” O’Callaghan commanded, acknowledging the city they played last night.

With that, he sang a collection of vocal scales followed by echoes from the audience.

During their pop hit, “Girls Do What They Want,” O’Callaghan handed the microphone to a random girl in the audience to sing the final chorus. After she finished, O’Callaghan mouthed that she sounded “fucking amazing” and jokingly asked if she wanted to sing the rest of the set so he could go take a nap.

Toward the end of their set, The Maine invited the two other bands from the tour to perform a cover song.

“This is Ryan Adams. And none of that Summer of ’69 shit,” O’Callaghan said as members from Augustana and Austin Gibbs joined The Maine on stage for “Dance All Night.”

The song was divided between the three vocalists ― O’Callaghan, Dan Layus (Augustana) and Austin Gibbs ― and the rest of the members of the bands.

After the song, O’Callaghan requested to have all the lights shut off in the venue, with only a dim spotlight on the band.

“If we all go somewhere mentally, will you trust me?” O’Callaghan asked the crowd before playing “Ice Cave.”

This new song had a grunge-like sound to it and echoes from O’Callaghan’s voice. This could make one grow in anticipation for the upcoming record, which could possibly have an even more mature sound than “Black and White.”

The Maine ended their set with “Growing Up,” which seemed like a perfect conclusion since it was like an anthem for the mostly-adolescent crowd.