I Love You But I Chose The Maine’s Dance Party Vibes

Erin Lee
2 days ago
2 min read

By Erin Lee

To know The Maine is to love them, and to appreciate you’ll spend all night dancing in the crowd with strangers…and sometimes singer John O’ Callaghan himself!

The Maine played an energetic set at House of Blues Orlando on Sunday night, April 26th.

They started the night strong with crowd favorite “Another Night on Mars.”

By the third song of the evening, we were ushered into the Joy Next Door era with “Die to Fall.”

The new album was released just weeks ago, but fans spread the word quickly that this tour we wear green. I observed so many people sporting the color: men and women alike. Green is a Taurus color, so I have plenty of it in my wardrobe and wore it head to toe myself. A fitting color to wear to a concert the day after my birthday.

Each member of the band brought their A-game to the table. Guitarist Kennedy Brock’s solid, clear backing vocals provided support and added a beautiful layer to the mix.

After playing the new album for the last couple of weeks, I was really looking forward to seeing drummer Pat Kirch play “Quiet Part Loud.”

He certainly delivered, despite being difficult to see in the thick wall of fog on the stage right drum riser.

Kirch also writes the band’s setlist.

He does an excellent job of creating a diverse experience, selecting a couple of songs from nearly every album in the band’s discography.

The 8123 family, as The Maine fans are known, are always up for audience participation. O’Callaghan encourages it like the ringmaster of the weirdo circus. He fully embraces the silly, inviting us to collectively let loose and have fun. Early in the set he took to the microphone to remind us “it’s not that serious.” Message received!

He’s well known for coming down onto the floor at a venue, passing the microphone to audience members to sing. He also points out men from the upper level and asks them to show the rest of us how to dance. The result is never a disappointment! Everyone is engaged and moving, more than I see at most concerts.

The running gag of the evening from John was that we should hang in there because “we only have 300 songs to go.” Which then became 212, and so on.

He leaned in to a kiddo on the barricade who was experiencing their first concert and addressed them throughout the show, checking in to see how they were doing.

Everyone is made to feel welcome and part of the family when they’re seeing The Maine, and that’s why they’ve become a new favorite of mine over the last couple years.

I highly recommend The Maine as YOUR new favorite band!

In the words of John O’Callghan: “Don’t be afraid to act a little fuckin weird every once in awhile.”