Nov 6

Nov 6 Show Review: Boys Like Girls Make Stunning Return to San Francisco

Boys Like Girls
w/ Crooked Teeth
August Hall
San Francisco, CA
October 27th, 2022

Photos and Review by Jared Stossel

For weeks, I kept saying that Boys Like Girls hadn’t performed in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2010, which found the band performing with All Time Low, Good Charlotte and The Ready Set at The Regency Ballroom. After doing some research, this is incorrect; the pop-rock band’s last performance was on Halloween in 2012 at the very same venue, on a co-headlining run with The All-American Rejects. Just two months after that show, the band would release their third (and so far, last) album, the country-inspired Crazy World. Other than a tour hosted in celebration of the anniversary of the band’s debut self-titled album, Boys Like Girls haven’t done much. The lull in appearances were surprising to me; when the four-piece Massachusetts act dropped their debut in 2006, you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing the lead single, “The Great Escape”, in all its glory.

But sometimes, you need to take time off and reflect. You need to step back, regroup, and do what feels right. The band echoed this sentiment on Thursday, October 27th when they took the stage at San Francisco’s August Hall. To paraphrase, vocalist Martin Johnson told the crowd that “we’re doing what feels right, and what feels like the right thing to do right now is to make another Boys Like Girls album.” The crowd roared as the band played in the Bay Area epicenter for the first time in a decade. Fans were thrilled to see one of the scene’s most promising acts bring forth an exemplary performance. Having seen them only once prior, during that 2010 show, I have to say that they sounded far better than they ever did at the height of their tenure in support of Boys Like Girls and their 2009 follow-up Love Drunk. This is a band that feels and looks completely recharged and ready to take on the world.

The evening’s support act was Crooked Teeth, an emo-influenced alternative rock act formed by singer-songwriter Tyson Evans back in 2016. For thirty minutes, the band channeled the angst of 90s era grunge into a concoction comprised of alt, emo, and pop-rock elements. Evans is an engaging frontman, and clearly a fan of the music that had brought everybody together under August Hall’s roof. This year alone, Crooked Teeth has released three new singles, including “I Want Out”, “Sugarcoated”, and “Promise”, all of which you can check out wherever you stream and purchase your music.

On the Boys Like Girls’ album Love Drunk, there is a seven-note melody that fades in on the eponymous second track. On Thursday night, it signified the beginning of the show. After a moment of dead silence, the melody pored through the PA system, and the crowd went nuts. Johnson, along with guitarist Paul DiGiovanni, drummer John Keefe, and newcomer Gregory James on bass, hyped the crowd. The feedback from the instruments built up, and the stage became washed with colorful lighting, signifying their return to the Bay Area, wasting no time as they dove headfirst into “Love Drunk”. The singalong moments just kept coming, as “Five Minutes To Midnight”, “Hero/Heroine”. “Heels Over Head”, and Me, You and My Medication” followed in perfect succession. Whether it came from Boys Like Girls, Love Drunk, or even Crazy World, the fans sang every word back like they’d been waiting over a decade to do so.

Additionally, the band treated fans to a new song from their forthcoming album (set to be released next year, with more information I assume will be available in the coming months). “The Outside” marks a new chapter in the Boys Like Girlssaga, one that builds upon their original sound while maintaining a sense of maturity, replete with a catchy chorus that deserves to be sung at the top of one’s lungs”. The ending of the new song led straight into a mash-up of songs like “Contagious”, “Dance Hall Drug”, “Be Your Everything” and “Two Is Better Than One”.

By the end of the night, the moment that everyone had waited for finally arrived: “The Great Escape”. But to everyone’s surprise, the band stopped playing after the first chorus. Johnson went to the mic, proclaiming, “we just gave you all a full chorus and verse for you to film on your phone. Now, can we put the phones away? Let’s do this like 2006.” The crowd cheers. “The Internet can have that moment. But this moment? It’s all for us,” he says with a grin. The band start the song over, and the world is blissful for three minutes and twenty seconds. A fan even joined the band on stage to play the closing bridge, Johnson handing him his guitar as he manned the microphone.

The ”phones away” moment was integral to this show, and it left a smile on my face as I walked out of the venue. Boys Like Girls are one of a select number of bands that saw their career blow up because of websites like MySpace, while still having a foot in the door with traditional media like magazines and appearances on MTV. Within a few years, the world would make a hard turn towards a reliance on social media. Boys Like Girls have re-emerged into a brand new world, and it’s clear from their San Francisco show that they’re ready to show it what they’ve got.

Boys Like Girls Set List
Love Drunk
Five Minutes To Midnight
Hero/Heroine
Heels Over Head
Me, You and My Medication
Thunder
Heart Heart Heartbreak
She’s Got A Boyfriend Now
Broken Man
The Outside
Contagious/Dance Hall Drug
Be Your Everything/Two Is Better Than One
The First Time
The Great Escape