Hooky roots, grown-up stakes
Boys Like Girls came up in Boston in the mid-2000s, mixing bright pop hooks with emo-leaning guitar crunch. After years of quiet between releases, they returned to steady touring with a sharper, grown-up version of the sound that broke them.
Songs that will likely land
Expect a set that anchors around anthems like
The Great Escape,
Love Drunk,
Thunder, and
Two Is Better Than One. The crowd skews mixed-age: friends reliving high school next to younger fans who found the band through playlists and pop collabs. You will hear big group singalongs, but also pockets of people swaying to the slower cuts near the back. Trivia worth knowing: the studio
Two Is Better Than One features Taylor Swift, and singer Martin Johnson now writes hits for other pop artists behind the scenes. Another small note fans enjoy is how they sometimes stretch the ending of
The Great Escape so the band can vamp over crowd chants. Heads up: the songs and staging I reference are inferred from recent runs and could shift night to night.
The Boys Like Girls Crowd, Up Close
Nostalgia without the costume
The scene around a Boys Like Girls show feels friendly and low-stress, with people trading stories about first cars and burned CDs. You will spot vintage band tees, layered flannels, and well-worn Chucks, plus a few varsity jackets with patches from old tours.
Little rituals, shared cues
Early in the night, groups test their harmonies on the whoa-oh lines from
The Great Escape, then save phone lights for
Thunder. Couples show up for
Two Is Better Than One, and you may catch quiet singalongs rather than big screams. Merch trends lean retro: blocky fonts, photo-collage posters, and caps that look like a 2009 merch wall. Between sets, you hear pop-punk playlists and the quick chatter of people comparing which year they first saw the band.
How Boys Like Girls Make It Hit Live
Hooks first, gear second
On stage, Martin Johnson keeps the vocals forward and clean, riding just enough grit to cut through the twin guitars. The guitars favor bright, compressed tones for the verses, then open up with wider chords and a touch more gain for the choruses. Drums sit punchy and dry, leaving space for stacked backing vocals that make the refrains feel larger than the room.
Small tweaks that land big
You may notice one or two older songs dropped a half-step in key, which keeps the high notes strong without strain. They often turn
Thunder into a slow-build moment, starting semi-acoustic before kicking into a full-band lift on the final chorus.
Love Drunk tends to arrive faster live, tightening the verses so the hook slams harder. Lights track the music in simple strokes, with warm whites for the mid-tempo tunes and sudden strobes on the big hits.
If You Like Boys Like Girls: Adjacent Acts
Overlapping fan lanes
If you like Boys Like Girls, you probably have time for
All Time Low, whose punchy choruses and banter-driven sets scratch a similar itch.
The Maine shares the sleek, earnest side of pop-rock, leaning into big hooks without losing warmth.
Melody-first pop-rock kin
Fans who grew up on Warped-era radio will also map cleanly to
Simple Plan, especially for the brisk tempos and shout-along bridges. For a more modern take on glossy guitars and pop timing,
5 Seconds of Summer brings tight vocal stacks and arena-ready dynamics. The crossover works both ways, because these bands cultivate crowds that like melody first, guitars second, and a show that moves.
