Arizona emo group The Maine returned to Minneapolis to First Avenue’s Main Room. Performing on the evening before the drop of their latest album, The Joy Next Door, fans helped usher in a new era for the band.
Joining me for the show was my childhood best friend, and Maine superfan, Kat. I am excited to share my platform with her so she can share her experience at the show:
I have seen The Maine many times now, and one thing is always consistent – they always look like they are having a blast. Watching them, I adore witnessing their authentic love of the music. They led with gratitude to their music community, and fostered an environment of openness and positivity. I think this was intensified as the concert was on the eve of their new album, “Joy Next Door”.
Vibes are an extremely important part of a concert, in my opinion, so when a band brings that genuine love of the game attitude, I want to celebrate that. However, the sound in the venue was not pulling its weight, dragging the concert down. For most of the night, the singers were nearly inaudible. I was especially disappointed during the last song, Black Butterflies and Deja Vu, as I could hear nearly nothing over the pounding bass.
Unfortunately, I missed the first opener, Friday Night Pilots, however I did see both Nightly and Grayscale. Nightly had solid music and had a great attitude, although I felt their drummer was really the most impressive of the bunch. He totally stole the show, both with his vibes and skill.
Grayscale, while very polished, did not share the positive vibes of The Maine. To be honest, I got a bit of the ick due to how much the lead singer was sticking out his tongue – which sounds odd, but genuinely it was so much!! So maybe I can’t be unbiased here. I will just leave it at that.
I do want to bring one critique of The Maine here for the openers – I was very disappointed that there was not a single woman in any of the bands.They have been in this industry for so long, and I want to see them uplifting women artists, and other underrepresented groups. While they have those great vibes on stage, and state their acceptance for everyone at their shows, I want to see that for the bands they choose to accompany them as well. This is always something I notice, and I definitely feel more at ease when a band uplifts diverse groups.
Overall, I enjoyed this concert and hope to see them next time they come to town. I just hope next time the sound is better, and maybe they have a more diverse set of openers. Onto the next!
