The Maine - Gig Review & Photo Gallery 22nd Sept @ The Forum, Melbourne, VIC
The Maine
Forum, Melbourne VIC
September 22, 2024
Supports Felony and joans
After what has been a pretty average week weather-wise in Melbourne, it was extremely refreshing to head out to The Forum on a lovely, mild Sunday evening for a night that promised to be brilliant. The best pop punk band from Tempe, Arizona, The Maine, are celebrating their Sweet 16th birthday, and brought Joan and Felony along for the party.
You can always count on Melbourne to show up early and give the same level of support to the opening bands as they do for the headliners and tonight was no exception. Felony, a four piece from Brisbane talked onstage about how beautiful the venue is, and as someone who has loved The Forum for forever, I can only agree. There’s something beautiful about a room full of pop punk fans singing along to a Katy Perry cover, and Melbourne brought it. A little bit Yours, Truly, a little bit All Time Low and a little bit MOBS, the Brisbanites definitely owned the stage from start to finish, and there was a lot of audience participation and enjoyment.
After a short intermission to give everyone a moment to grab a drink or go to the bathroom, it was Joan’s turn to take the stage. The first thing I noticed was vocalist Alan Benjamin Jones, using a scarf tied around his guitar instead of a capo, and hey, whatever works works, right? The duo originate from Little Rock, Arkansas (pronounced Ar-Kan-Saw because why would it be Arkansas?!), and it’s their first time in Australia and I personally hope they come back very soon. They played one of their new songs, ‘Magic’ during their set, to a very happy and impressed crowd. If you asked me what vibes Joan gives off, I’d struggle, but I eventually settled on a mix of Moose Blood, Mayday Parade, and Troye Sivan if he was rockier. Their set was fun, rocky, funky, and a little bit jazzy, and included a breaking news alert that ‘Melbourne Is Slay’ and hey, who am I to argue with that! They closed out their set with ‘Superglue’, and despite it being their first Aussie show, the majority of the crowd was singing along.
Before The Maine even took to the stage, a glittering disco ball descended from the roof, and I can’t say I have ever heard a crowd cheer over a disco ball before, until tonight. A giant white banner also dropped to display ‘The Sweet Sixteen Tour’ at the back of the stage, and anticipation for the boys to take the stage only grew. Finally, the lights were dimmed and Pat Kirch (Drums), Garrett Nickelsen (Bass), Jared Monaco (Guitar), Kennedy Brock (Guitar), and John O’Callaghan (Vocals), took to the stage. They opened with ‘Dose No.2’ and ‘I Must Be Dreaming’ before John addressed the crowd for the first time, reminding us that even though it’s Sunday ‘We’re not in fucking Church okay?’ to encourage everyone to get moving. Watching The Maine play is always an experience, especially when you have Garrett running around the stage like a maniac, something I very much enjoyed watching throughout ‘Diet Sode Society’ and ‘Right Girl’.
Before starting ‘(Un)Lost’ John addressed the crowd and told us, ‘I want to see weird mouths you guys, you gotta pretend that you know all the words from now on, even if you don’t’ which definitely got a laugh out of the people I was standing around, and based off the smile on John’s face, got a laugh out of everyone else too. The thing about The Maine is that they have always been a band that genuinely enjoying being on stage and performing for their fans. I’ve been seeing them since 2015, and it’s been so amazing to watch them grow from headlining The Corner Hotel, to now headlining an almost sold out Forum. At this point, John informed us ‘People on Twitter said play things off Forever Halloween, fuck Twitter!’ and then proceeded to play ‘Love & Drugs’ from Forever Halloween. This was followed by ‘Numb Without You’ and the entire floor section of the venue was moving, and by moving I mean moshing and dancing and rocking out.
Soon after, John took the opportunity to ask us to all cheer for openers Felony, but according to him we didn’t do it loud enough, so he made us do it again until we were satisfactorily loud. He then asked us to cheer if we were from Melbourne, and then asked everyone else to yell out where they were from to which he replied ‘That place sucks, I understand why you’re angry’, but not referring to anywhere in particular. Afterwards, Garrett excitedly ran to the back of the stage where he picked up what looked like a clock, but turned out to be a decibel meter, that John jokingly said that he’d been working on in his shed ever since lockdown. We were then asked to cheer for either ‘Bad Behavior’, or ‘Slip The Noose’ and whichever read louder on Garrett’s reader was the song they were going to play. It was quite close, with readings of 116 and 115 respectively and ‘Bad Behavior’ being the winner to which John stated ‘Bad Behavior it is, fuck Sydney’. I don’t know why he chose Sydney specifically, but Melbourne is definitely the right city to make that choice in. The time for the acoustic break in the set came with ‘Saving Grace/Whoever She Is’ and John asked us to act like it was a ‘modern day’ Grateful Dead concert and put our phone torches up and the way everyone did was a sight to behold.
Prior to playing ‘Everything I Asked For’ John said that it was a song for the MySpace fans, and this definitely got a laugh out of me, especially when I saw the confused looks on some of the younger fans faces (Yes I know, I’m old now). For ‘Sticky’, John ventured out into the crowd, casually introducing himself to people and helping to create a moshpit, and during Lost In Nostalgia’ he was crowdsurfed back to the stage and also cheekily yelled out ‘WHO’S FINGER IS THAT’ to the delight of the fans. I never thought that I would get to hear ‘Misery’ live, and I’m not going to lie, I got a little bit emotional during the performance! As is tradition at The Maine shows, when the band performs ‘Girls Do What They Want’, they’ll bring up a male audience member to sing with them and tonight was no exceptin. John chose a young man mostly for his moustache, and a guy named Ryan joined them on stage. Ryan is quite possibly the tallest man I’ve ever seen, and even John and Jared had to look UP to see him which is saying something as both are about 6”2/6”3. Ryan absolutely nailed it though, and I’m glad that this is something the band still does.
‘Just Another Night On Mars’ was the final song of the night and the lyrics are so fitting for what it feels like to be seeing The Maine, ‘Just another night on Mars, with friends like ours anywhere is home’ and you always feel like you’re at home with The Maine, with your friends and just having a great time listening to great music.
The Maine are in Australia pretty consistently every 18 or so months, so I know it won’t be long until the boys are back on our shores playing for us. I’ve never been to a bad show from the Arizonian’s, and I genuinely doubt I ever will.
Review by Kelsey Trevan
Setlist
Dose No.2
I Must Be Dreaming
Diet Soda Society
Right Girl
(Un)Lost
Loved You a Little
How to Exit a Room
Like We Did (Windows Down)
Love & Drugs
Numb Without You
Bad Behavior
Thoughts I Have While Lying in Bed
Don't Come Down
Saving Grace / Whoever She Is
Forever Halloween
Everything I Ask For
Sticky
Lost in Nostalgia
Black Butterflies and Déjà Vu
Touch
Misery
Blame
Girls Do What They Want
Dirty, Pretty, Beautiful
Another Night on Mars
Photo Gallery by Ophelia Symons @opheliavictoria
Please Credit Wall Of Sound and Ophelia Symons if you repost photos
Joan
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Felony
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The Maine
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