Boys Like Girls at The Depot in Salt Lake City
October 16, 2023
Pop rock/emo fans filled The Depot in Salt Lake City for a trip down nostalgia lane, as Boys Like Girls performed for a sold out crowd this past Friday on the “Speaking Our Language” tour. Joining Boys Like Girls for this night was LoLo, The Summer Set and State Champs
I had never heard of LOLO and The Summer Set before but the great things about going to concerts is finding bands like that who now make it on your playlist. They both did an amazing job of getting the crowd works up and it seemed as if The Summer Set has a strong following here in Salt Lake City already. Most of the crowd were singing along to their songs and giving the bands a huge welcome and cheers of approval. The highlight of their set for me was watching drummer, Jess Bowen, perform. She hammered on those drums all the while with a huge smile on her face which made it look like she was having the time of her life on the stage.
Up Next, State Champs really got the crowd worked up. The security even opened the pit up a bit more for their set, in anticipation of crowd surfers they expected for this act. There were some that came through. Although the elder emo crowd that was there might not have surfed like they did before the younger ones in the audience made up for it.
When Boys Like Girls went on their indefinite hiatus they were at the top of their game and fans had been wanting new music from them for quite a while. Earlier this year they answered the call giving everyone a taste of new music and something to look forward to with the singles “Blood and Sugar” and “Cry” off their upcoming new album Sundays at Foxwoods.
In Between the set and during take down the crowd was abuzz with anticipation of BLG taking the stage with everyone smiling and talking about if they had seen them before or if it was their first time seeing them. The excitement was palpable and when the lights went down chants of “Boys Like Girls” echoed through the venue until drummer, Johnny Keefe started playing the drums and the band walked out onto the stage to the roar of the crowd. The band wasted no time in getting things going, opening with their fan favorite “Love Drunk” which had the crowd singing right out of the gates. Peppered throughout the setlist was new music and fan favorites including my personal favorite “Thunder” which was played as a mash up with “Stuck in the Middle”.
The band closed out the night with their monster single “The Great Escape” which had the whole venue singing along and proving just how much staying power their music has. After that the band thanked everyone and walked off before front man, Martin Johnson, returned to the roar of the fans for an acoustic encore performance of “Two is Better Than One”. This one had fans singing along with a lot of fans wiping away tears watching this amazing performance that some of us believed we wouldn’t see again in the years before they reunited.
Overall, the night was a major success which showcased that music is a universal language that unites us all and Boys Like Girls is truly “Speaking Our Language”.
