Boys Like Girls Brought the Soundtrack of a Generation Back to Life in Anaheim
- Vaneza Gutiérrez Wyckoff
- a few seconds ago
- 3 min read
With booming sing-alongs, flickering box TVs, and emotional callbacks to their earliest records, Boys Like Girls delivered the ultimate pop-rock time machine.
Article & Photos by Vaneza Gutiérrez Wyckoff
For any emo/rock-adjacent teenager growing up in the late 00s, the opening notes of “The Great Escape” bring back memories of dial-up internet noises, coding a MySpace profile with HTML, running around the mall after school and on weekends…
And this is exactly what screaming the words back to Boys Like Girls takes the listener back to. Yes, reminiscing on the 00s is particularly in right now, but not all nostalgia-based shows feel like they’re fueled by kerosene, adrenaline pumping through Millennial veins, and, as so eloquently put by Martin Johnson in the lyrics, “scream[ed] loud at the top of our lungs” in the same way the Soundtrack Of Your Life tour does.
Opening the evening was Arrows in Action, whose bright, energetic set immediately won over the crowd. Frontman Victor Viramontes-Pattinson brought endless charisma to the stage, hair flying dramatically beneath the stage fans as the band ripped through fan favorites like “Cheekbone” and “Light Like You.” Fun moments like breaking into the Macarena mid-song and weaving a touch of High School Musical into the set only added to the playful atmosphere.
Following them was I Dont Know How, But They Found Me (also known as iDKHOW), whose eccentric, almost whimsical performance shifted the tone of the night into something moodier and theatrical. Frontman Dallon Weekes effortlessly hit soaring high notes while leading the crowd through catchy staples like “Choke” and “Leave Me Alone,” proving exactly why the band has developed such a devoted following.
By the time Boys Like Girls took the stage, the room had reached a full boil.
The band structured the night around their first two albums, beginning with their sophomore record, Love Drunk, before diving headfirst into their self-titled debut, Boys Like Girls. The crowd bounced relentlessly to “Love Drunk” as the original music video flickered across the multitude of stacked 00s-style box TVs decorating the stage, while “Two Is Better Than One” transformed the venue into a glowing sea of phone lights and shouted lyrics.
Kicking off the second act was “The Great Escape,” during which the crowd roared every single word back at Martin Johnson so loudly that, at times, his own vocals were nearly drowned out entirely. That same electricity carried through the remainder of the self-titled album, with the audience screaming along to “Five Minutes to Midnight” and “Hero/Heroine” before shifting into something softer and more emotional during “On Top Of The World” and “Holiday.”
The production itself felt carefully designed to transport the audience back into the mid-2000s. Static-filled televisions, nostalgic visuals, thick smoke filling the air, and rapidly flashing lights made the stage feel like a living scrapbook of the era. Rather than coming across as gimmicky, however, the aesthetic choices amplified the emotional core of the night: a celebration of the music that shaped an entire generation of listeners.
Martin Johnson remains one of the most captivating frontmen of the scene, balancing humor, vulnerability, and effortless rockstar charisma throughout the night. Whether sprinting across the stage, throwing the microphone toward the audience for entire choruses, or pausing to soak in the deafening crowd reactions, he carried the kind of confidence that only comes from knowing exactly what these songs mean to people.
And that is what makes the Soundtrack Of Your Life tour feel so special. It is not simply nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake. It is about reconnecting with the version of yourself that first found comfort, confidence, and identity in these songs - even if that meant sacrificing your parents' computer to the Limewire gods.
For a few hours, the crowd was no longer worried about adulthood or the endless noise of the outside world.
They were teenagers again, screaming lyrics with their entire chest, hearts pounding alongside the drums, desperately trying to hold onto the moment just a little longer.