REVIEW: 3OH!3, Emo Nite, Lil Aaron @ Middle East 11/25
By Grace Lauson
On Nov. 25, Emo Nite and 3OH!3 played at the Middle East in Cambridge as a part of their Want House Party Tour. Their friend, Lil Aaron, opened the show. Emo Nite first started when Morgan Freed, Babs Szabo, and TJ Petracca decided to play emo rock music in small dive bars in Los Angeles. They met Sean from 3OH!3 at one of their events and then toured on the Warped Tour Cruise together. 3OH!3 consists of Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte. They have been touring for about 10 years following the release of their popular songs “DONTTRUSTME” and “My First Kiss ft. Kesha.” They are now finishing up their American tour.
The Boston show was very high energy and focused on a lot of interaction with the crowd. Considering it was a sold out show, bodies packed the venue. Fans were decked out in 3OH!3 merchandise and knew the words to all of the songs. The show started off with Emo Nite coming out to play an introductory set. Emo Nite does not make their own music, but plays emo, punk rock music from various artists. They started with “Sugar We’re Goin’ Down” by Fall Out Boy and the crowd went crazy. They invited any fan that wanted to dance on the stage for their whole set and Emo Nite danced along with them. They often faded out songs into others to keep the crowd’s energy up. They then played “Dear Maria, Count Me In” by All Time Low and “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” by my Chemical Romance.
Emo Nite’s first set only lasted about 15 minutes before Lil Aaron came on starting with “Shake It” by Metro Station. The fans continued to jump on and off stage throughout Lil Aaron’s set. He played a lot of mashups of popular songs so everyone could sing along with him. His set went on to include “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” by Panic! At The Disco and “Do Re Mi” by Blackbear.
Following Lil Aaron’s set, Emo Nite came on once again for their second of three sets. The energy was high the entire show and strobe lights lit up the crowd making for fun visuals. They started this set with “Mr. Brightside” by the Killers which they added sound effects such as a doorbell or blow horn to. They also played “I Miss You” by Blink-182 and “Teenagers” by My Chemical Romance. They continued to play many popular songs from the last 10 years and danced throughout the crowd before asking everyone to leave the stage so 3OH!3 could come out for their first of two sets.
When 3OH!3 came out, everyone put up their hands in a symbol that wrote out “3 0 3.” They started with a song called “PUNKB*TCH” from their album, WANT. They, too, interacted with the fans a lot while also keeping energy high by jumping around on stage and talking with the crowd. They also played “CHOKECHAIN” and “IMNOTYOURBOYFRIENDBABY” also from WANT. They continued to play all songs from this album before bringing Emo Nite back out for their final set, in which they continued to spin emo and pop punk classics. This set was much shorter than the others, but did not lack in energy.
3OH!3 finished strong with playing their most popular songs “My First Kiss” and “DONTTRUSTME.” The concert overall was very interactive and fun for the crowd. Fans could easily sing along to the songs chosen by Emo Nite, which made for lots of dancing. The idea of switching off between Emo Nite and 3OH!3 multiple times throughout the night was interesting and kept the crowd wanting more of each act. The show is not one that should be missed in the future!