REVIEW: Juice @ Brighton Music Hall 4/12
By Dahlia Maleh
Photos by Amber Jared
On April 12th, the Boston-founded band, Juice, returned and performed a remarkable show at Brighton Music Hall.
The opener for the show was Paper Citizen, an indie artist who also had their start in Boston. The Boston pride concert was the perfect show to start off the Marathon Monday weekend.
For the smaller venue, Paper Citizen’s impactful voice made it seem as if the show was taking place at TD Garden. Her set didn’t need flashy clothes (she wore all white) or any reason to hype the crowd up because her stage presence, talent and guitar shredding skills was more than enough.
She was the first reminder of the night that Boston builds talented artists.
The stars of the concert were the seven-man, self described “rock, r&b and hip-hop” band, Juice. They left their first mark on Boston when they won Battle of the Bands in 2014 at Boston College and from then on, they never ceased making Boston proud. Their show on April 12th was another one of those marks.
At 10:30PM on the dot, the crowd, which was made up of older college students and graduates, began chanting “Juice.” The ensemble walked out soon with their designated instruments. There were two guitars, a bass, drums and the coolest violin you will ever see. The talent on the stage was overwhelming.
Ben Stevens, lead singer, said to the crowd, “What’s up Boston?” and the crowd roared back in excitement. Their excitement set the tone and expectations for the night and Juice delivered.
The first song, “Where I Wanna Be,” immediately got the crowd engaged in a sea of “Oooh oooh yeah”s, which feels like a song destined for the top charts.
As the band was performing, patrons of the crowd were waving to the artists like they were old friends — they probably were, because of the band having their start at BC. Throughout the show, crowd members were hugging each other in reunion because they “haven’t seen each other in so long.”
The happiness from reuniting with one another and seeing their old friends perform on stage was contagious to the rest of the crowd.
The good vibes continued with the song “Dave (Turn The Music Down)” which was filled with political and pop culture references and a catchy hook. Juice demonstrated that they are more than just another boy band but artists with true talent and depth.
Juice’s range of genres in their set list made the show great for lovers of all genres, just specific ones or who were looking to branch out. There was rock, pop, guitar and violin solos, rap verses and beautiful melodies from Stevens.
The show couldn’t be what it was without the other members which include Rami El-Abidin on bass, Daniel Moss on guitar, Miles Clyatt on drums, Christian Rose on violin and vocals, Michael Ricciardulli on guitar, Kamau Burton on acoustic guitar and vocals, and Ben Stevens on vocals.
In the middle of the set, Burton, Rose and Stevens took a break from singing and Stevens addressed the crowd again.
“We’re Juice and we’re from Boston, Massachusetts.”
Many bands who make it big forget where they came from but for Juice, it was a badge they wore on their shoulder.
Juice has been on tour for a while and have shows all across America starting from June 7th to August 17th. It would be a major loss to miss out on seeing them this summer.
Check out their website for more information: https://www.itstimeforjuice.com/tour
