Never Shout Never played a show with Metro Station at The Paradise, and Boston fans turned up for the throwback bands. There was an even mix between new fans and old, but fans shared the same brand of loyalty. These bands were able to get a group of people who are otherwise uncoordinated to jump in unison, putting a new twist on the phrase “when I say ‘jump’, you say ‘how high.’”
For Metro Station, this tour was a return to the stage after breaking up, which is something that not a lot bands can say (despite the best efforts of many fans who have seen their favorite bands fall apart and are still waiting for a reunion). Trace Cyrus addressed this sentiment by saying to the crowd, “A lot of people thought we’d never be back on stage again. This is the first song we released after being broken up for five years,” referring to the song “Love and War.”
What is perhaps most respectable about Metro Station’s new music is that they have released their current album independent of a label, which is a relatively unique accomplishment in the industry. What is also pretty rare these days is going without phones or electronic devices, but that didn’t stop Trace Cyrus from asking the audience to go without phones for a song so they could experience something that isn’t through a screen. As he aptly pointed out, that song has been recorded live before and is posted on Youtube–what an insight!
After Metro Station, the musical talent that everyone had been waiting the whole night for came on–the sound check guy for Never Shout Never. He chose to go with a simple, yet elegant and classic crowd favorite, “Check 1, 2, hey, hey.” It was so classic, some might call it a post-modern sound check, where the original form had gone out of style, but is slowly making a comeback out of love for forgotten cultural moments. After the sound check guy, who doubled as a hype man, was done setting up, Never Shout Never was ready to perform, and the crowd apparently had been holding back their capacity for max cheer volume. Thankfully, Christopher Drew of Never Shout Never dressed the part to walk among the loud animal species that is the preteen girl with his animal hat, reminiscent of the boy from ”Where the Wild Things Are.”
Drew was intent on being the epitome of wild, professing that he had attempted to drink a bottle of wine over the course of his set for the past few shows, and this night was no exception to the rule. While it might be recreational for Drew, it was also somewhat irresponsible to present this as normative behavior to a young and impressionable teenage audience. Miraculously, this did not affect the quality of the show or Drew’s musical performance. Besides, being a younger teenage audience didn’t exactly stop one girl from throwing a bra on stage, which Drew shared the sentiment that everyone was thinking, “That this just feels wrong.”
However, the drinking is probably what lead to a pretend rock n’ roll re-enactment of smashing a guitar (he didn’t actually go through with it). And yes, it did get even more rock n’ roll than the indie-pop band brand would normally induce, but this instance it is because of the music they played. Never Shout Never did a cover of The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” which was expertly pulled off by all involved, including the audience that picked up on the energy Drew was putting into the performance, especially the tambourine (of course the crowd cheered at every movement, so they were already up to the task of being an adoring audience). The tambourine is a sacred instrument and must be treated accordingly, and it is safe to say that the tambourine gods accepted the musical offering. Continuing with this kind of pastiche for rock n’ roll, Drew accidentally played the drum symbols with his guitar; he was jumping around so much, and honestly, what’s more rock n’ roll than that?
Never Shout Never brought more props than just tambourines to the show. During the song “Red Balloon,” they coordinated a release of red balloons from the second floor into the pit for the ultimate game of ‘keep the balloons off the floor.’ During all the chaos, Drew borrowed an audience member’s phone who was recording the performance just to say hi, which might have exploded that fangirl’s poor little heart. Surely she’ll be fine, and she’ll have a great memory.
It came time to start winding down the show, but too many of the fans decided that they had all made great memories and that they wanted more. They successfully pulled off a request for an encore, and “request” makes it sound tame, when the exact opposite is true. Never Shout Never ended the night, for the second time, with their longest song that’s ironically about time travel, and fans left truly satisfied.
Metro Station Set List
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Control
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She Likes Girls
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Getting Over You
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Love & War
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Kelsey
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Married in Vegas
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Shake It
Never Shout Never Set List
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Piggy Bank
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California
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Trouble
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On the Brightside
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Black Cat
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Seven Nation Army
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Coffee and Cigarettes
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Red Balloon
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Sweet Perfection
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Ladybug
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Lost at Sea
- Encore: Time