{"id":22840,"date":"2020-02-11T16:16:39","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T21:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=22840"},"modified":"2020-02-18T13:02:51","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T18:02:51","slug":"review-joan-great-scott-2-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2020\/02\/11\/review-joan-great-scott-2-9\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: Joan @ Great Scott 2\/9"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Claudia Rosado<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Photos by Monica Sucic<\/em><\/p>\n

The 80s synth-pop inspired duo <\/span>joan<\/span> took the stage at Great Scott Allston on Feb 9 for an intimate concert on their first headlining tour. The Little Rock, Arkansas based-band is comprised of Alan Thomas (vocals, keys\/synth, guitar) and Steven Rutherford (drums, backing vocals).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Opener <\/span>Ralph<\/span> set the tone for a cool and causal Sunday night. Her girl next door vibes and funny interludes between songs warmed the crowd up for the main event. \u201cCold to the Touch\u201d and \u201cGravity\u201d were amongst the songs that received a strong fan reception.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

joan<\/span>\u2019s set was minimalistic and limited to instruments only, mostly relying on their lighting to convey the shifts in tone.\u00a0 The opening song, \u201cdrive all night,\u201d evoked the 80s feeling with pastel pink, blue, and yellow LEDs swirling behind Thomas\u2019s dancing. While the duo seemed shy at first, they definitely became more expressive and open as their time on stage continued.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They continued on playing \u201cstop and stare\u201d and \u201ctokyo,\u201d a song which really engaged the crowd and got them singing along. Thomas and Rutherford shared sly smiles, knowing that the fan favorite was appreciated. Afterwards, Thomas said hello to the crowd and announced, \u201cWe do have a new collection of six songs, an EP, and we are going to play all six new songs tonight.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The crowd cheered as the two went into one of the latter-mentioned songs, \u201clove me better.\u201d It was very upbeat with a dance groove that had fans bopping along and recording any new tidbits they could on their phones.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was evident that <\/span>joan<\/span> loves what they do and that they are ridiculously good at it. Even with all of the tricks up their sleeve, like vocal modulations and mixing electronic with acoustic, the boys sound just like their pre-recorded tracks. On top of that, the deviations into guitar and drum solos added to the concert.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the first few synth notes for \u201call the way\u201d came in, fans cheered louder than ever before. Thomas smiled at the crowd before shouting, \u201cBoston, do not be afraid to dance!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Following was a new song, \u201ctry again.\u201d\u00a0 As much as their 80s dream, synth-pop-ness has been highlighted, this song moves beyond and into the 90s. The back beat and melody sounded like a <\/span>Destiny\u2019s Child<\/span><\/i> single. They slowed it down for a bit, with the already intimate show feeling like a true outpouring of the band\u2019s heart.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A new song \u201ccover girl\u201d livened things up again, sounding like an honest mix of <\/span>Jesse McCartney<\/span> and <\/span>All-American Rejects<\/span>. It has a serious future as a song people across <\/span>joan<\/span>\u2019s fanbase stand in front of their mirror and sing along to the top of their lungs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fans then erupted at the long awaited \u201cease your mind\u201d The stage was once more vibrantly lit with Rutherford and Thomas looking like they were having the time of their lives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After a lot of dancing, the band ended their night with their 2018 single, \u201ci loved you first.\u201d While quiet and slow, it proved to be a terrific end, building musically to a big finish on <\/span>joan<\/span>\u2019s Boston stop of their first headlining tour.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As passionate as the fans had been all night, there were barely any cheers for an encore. However, that worked out in their favor as Thomas, Rutherford, and <\/span>Ralph<\/span>, all arrived at their merch tables ready to meet fans, take pictures, and get to know those who attended the a little better.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
joan by Monica Sucic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Claudia Rosado Photos by Monica Sucic The 80s synth-pop inspired duo joan took the stage at Great Scott Allston on Feb 9 for an intimate concert on their first headlining tour. The Little Rock, Arkansas based-band is comprised of Alan Thomas (vocals, keys\/synth, guitar) and Steven Rutherford (drums, backing vocals).\u00a0 Opener Ralph set the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17168,"featured_media":22888,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1525,1530],"tags":[1562,517,327,110,193,774],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22840"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22840"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22889,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22840\/revisions\/22889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}