SHOW REVIEW: The Maine Take Their Mirror Tour To Their Hometown Of Phoenix, AZ
SHOW REVIEW: The Maine Take Their Mirror Tour To Their Hometown Of Phoenix, AZ
Joining The Maine on this mystical journey is This Wild Life & Twin XL
Words and Images By: Taylor Gilliam
“8123 means everything to me…”
It’s the phrase that has united fans of The Maine for more than a decade – and there’s no place that’s more apparent than in their hometown of Phoenix, AZ. Now that the pale pink of Sad Summer is long past, the unofficial color has become gold like the sand of the You Are OK album cover—and the crowd was a sea of yellows to welcome the boys home.
It was also somewhat of a hometown gig for Twin XL, who opened up the show with a set that went from synth-heavy to summertime rock and kept the crowd guessing as to what would come next. Brothers, Stephen and John Gomez, [formerly of The Summer Set] make up two-thirds of Twin XL, along with Cameron Wright [formerly of Nekokat] round out the trio.
Twin XL has had an excellent year so far, releasing the How to Talk to Strangers EP early on and then new single “Messy” a month ago. Fans of their former projects were easily swayed to hop on board with the new music, especially because it’s so damn fun. Alt radio hit “Good” is especially so, and they closed with it as the crowd was set in motion.
The energy totally changed for direct support act, This Wild Life – who swapped out their pop punk for acoustic singer-songwriter pursuits a few years ago and haven’t looked back. Armed with a small drum set, keys, guitars, and a ukulele, the duo had the room chilled out and vibing. Their self-proclaimed “prescription strength emotional music” wasn’t what most of the crowd was looking for, but there were enough fans in the first few rows to sing along.
It might have been a genius move, actually, to get everyone relaxed before the energy levels positively went through the roof. Amid all the excited chatter, the house lights went dark, and what’s best described as a hype video started playing. Clips of John O’Callaghan, Kennedy Brock, Jared Monaco, Garrett Nickelsen, and Pat Kirch looking into mirror fragments flashed from one to the other as a voiceover echoed their overall message of 2019 – You Are OK.
Deafening screams filled the venue when the band took their places as the video faded out, and blinding white lights emphasized their coordinating black and gold suits. “Slip the Noose” and “My Best Habit” kicked off their set, just as they do on the album, but The Maine drew from Lovely Little Lonely and [to a lesser extent] their other albums for this tour. Of course, eager fans already knew this from the internet, but they didn’t expect the full karaoke session that John led halfway through the set. From “All Star” to “I Feel Like a Woman”, it was just as chaotic as one would expect.
John was feeling especially chatty and led a mini Q&A session as well, even though nobody else could hear what was going on. Simply watching all their expressions was enough to be entertained.
Closing with “Flowers on the Grave”, The Maine also closed out this era of The Mirror and wrapped up 2019. The nine minute epic was cathartic, and it seemed like everyone was finally at peace. We were OK after all.
