Swooning fan girls, flashing lights and bubble gum allegories: all of these could be found at The Maine's opening stop on the group's American Candy Tour at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe on Friday.
Opening up the show with its signature indie rock vibes was local Phoenix band and The Maine's 8123 labelmate The Technicolors. While opening bands generally feel small and unexciting in larger venues like this, The Technicolors captivated the audience and left them screaming for more. as the band walked off stage from what I would consider the best opening set I've ever seen.
The Technicolors' live performance is always impressive, as the still fairly unknown band manages to fill large venues like The Marquee with its loud guitars, high energy and lovely falsettos, contributed by frontman Brennan Smiley and touring guitarist Sean Silverman.
"It's interesting, a lot of the older tunes we wrote as dreamers, things we thought would sound awesome played to huge audiences," Smiley said. "We're all excited about each other and playing together again and about seeing people respond to that."
The Technicolors' new EP, "Ultraviolet Disguise," comes out April 7 on 8123, the band's label.
Up next was Chicago outfit Knuckle Puck. While the band's performance was arguably the least exciting of the night, with tunes that are a little to yell-y to be considered true pop punk but not quite scary enough to be called hardcore, the stage presence of lead singer Joe Taylor successfully hyped the crowd.
The band perfectly filled the role of opener though they were slightly overshadowed by the absolutely killer performance by the Technicolors that preceded them.
Following Knuckle Puck was every angst-filled teen in a beanie's favorite band, Real Friends. Frontman Dan Lambton's curly mop of hair stole the show as the band worked through its hits for a more than appreciative crowd. The band moved around the stage erratically as bassist Kyle Fasel yelled lyrics right back at the crowd.
On the weather, Fasel said what every Arizonan already knows about the Grand Canyon State.
"It's never not hot here," Fasel said. "I literally got here, took off my pants, and changed into shorts (behind the venue)."
While the weather was hot, the energy in the Marquee (and the industrial grade fans, of course) kept the night chill as the audience rode the wave from energetic performance to energetic performance, until the main event arrived.
The Maine finally walked onto the darkened stage one-by-one to the sound of approximately 1,000 fangirls' screams. The band opened with "Miles Away," the opening track from its latest album, "American Candy."
To read more about "American Candy," read State Press' review of the Maine's latest cut.
The band worked through an impressively balanced set of old and new songs, covering hits from the new album like "English Girls," "My Hair" and "Same Suit, Different Tie," while mixing in diehard fan favorites from the days of lore like "Into Your Arms" and the quintessential "Right Girl." T
he high point of the set was undoubtedly "My Herione," the PG-13 rocker from 2011's "Pioneer. The crowd screamed and danced its way through the song with frontman John O'Callaghan.
The band's lighting for this tour is more advanced than anything it's done before, with a variety of colors and positions of lights reflecting off the members. The Maine's classic "M" logo flashed in the background.
"This is our first tour with a lighting guy, and the show is definitely gonna have a blue vibe like the album does," said guitarist Kennedy Brock. "Our instruments will fit into the scheme too."
The lights, which managed to combine greens, reds, blues and yellows into a visual masterpiece, were reminiscent of the band's "Run" music video from 2013's "Forever Halloween."
This was fitting, as the band's performance of "Run" proved to be one of the best moments of the set. O'Callaghan stalked around the stage, staring the crowd down as he sang the slightly sinister lyrics, providing a mood to fit the song for an impressive performance.
As this was the first night of the tour, the band's energy was intense. It was clear that the band, particularly O'Callaghan and bassist Garrett Nickelsen, was excited to be there opening up the spring tour.
"We just took the longest time off that we ever have, about six months, to record an album and for Christmas," Nickelsen said. "It's good to be back playing music and playing new music."
As the band members danced around the stage, bouncing off of each other and caressing each other's faces in typical The Maine boys fashion, it was clear that the band was excited to be back on the road. Here's to the rest of the American Candy Tour — it's sure to be a good one.
Reach the assistant arts & entertainment editor at ezentner@asu.edu or follow @emilymzentner on Twitter
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
