https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDzzEcFqmeo
After a pit stop for coffee and vegan donuts at local eatery Nami, the search was on for a way to make the evening special. My tour buddy and I, the only one who is loony enough to travel this far for the Arizona natives, hit up the nearest Dollar Tree for all of the glow sticks we could carry.
Tonight’s show was in Tucson, a two hour drive from where we touched down in Phoenix. When we found the venue, The Rock, a line had already started to form. We quickly used social media and word of mouth to hand off our glowing finds to as many attendees as possible.
When the show began, Beach Weather set the night off with nearly every song the verdant band has created. Funky energy featuring songs from their EP, What a Drag. This lineup seems to be the culmination of an interesting journey for singer Nick Santino. Beach Weather is completely unique to any of his prior projects, so much that I didn’t realize Santino had a hand in it until deeper internet digging prior to the first show.
The Maine came on stage to a roaring group of kids who were seeing them for the first or the hundredth time. American Candy has been a yearbook that seems to span all facets of The Maine, with songs that sound like the perfect combination of their past and a taste of future. The crowd knew all of the words, and felt like a community. As the crowd poured out of the venue, I couldn’t help but beam. I have grown up over eight years with The Maine, along with a myriad of other characters I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in the General Admission lines over the years. One city down this time around, many more to go.