Boys Like Girls woos our eighth grade hearts

By Shellie Adams

Oh eighth grade, a time when boys who wore black were "dangerous," a time when it was cool to cuss even though your parents told you not to, and a time when Boys Like Girls were getting their start in the music industry. Little did I know that my 13-year-old dream of seeing them perform live would be carried out during my sophomore year of college at the 2013 Rock the Bluff concert.

The Harm opened for Boys Like Girls, and they played a set of semi-upbeat songs that held most of audience's attention. After waiting an hour for Boys Like Girls after the opener, I think its safe to say the whole audience, myself included, were fairly annoyed and hoped this group we hadn't really listened to since early high school would be worth the wait.

When Boys Like Girls walked onstage it took the crowd a good three songs before people started dancing and having a good time. At one point, the band even called up two students to dance on stage to get the crowd more invested in the performance.

It was very fun to be singing songs that got me through the difficulties of transitioning into high school, but I have to say this was probably one of the oddest concerts I've been to. It was strange hearing Boys Like Girls live, five years after they were popular in my mind.

The best part of the evening was their closing song "Love Drunk." Johnson told the audience that he wanted us to go crazy, and, even after starting the song, promptly stopped the song to scold us for using our iPhones to capture the moment! They then proceeded to finish the night with all of the Chiles Center dancing and jumping, savoring each moment.

While I went in with a skeptical attitude to how the concert would be, I have to say, I was very impressed with Boys Like Girls and I'm very glad that I went.