Photo Credit: Jo Anderson<\/p>\n
Review by Isabelle Ireland<\/p>\n
On Friday, February 27th, Peter McPoland played an incredible set at the Royale.<\/span><\/p>\n Beginning at 7pm, the opening band, DUG, was the best opener I have ever witnessed.<\/span><\/p>\n The band, hailing all the way from Dublin, was able to get the crowd to clap, boo, sing, and dance even though almost nobody had ever heard of them.<\/span><\/p>\n The duo had great stories to share and the best thing about their name, DUG, is that anyone of that name is promised to get in for free at their concerts. It\u2019s a choice not only funny but truly beautiful and inclusive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The end of their set was so fun having gotten the crowd to line dance in sync with their music. For the last few minutes, they had people pair up and spin their partner \u2018round and \u2018round. Watching this huge crowd dance together was such a rare experience and really heartwarming in today’s conflicting climate.<\/span><\/p>\n Peter McPoland and his band got on stage right at 8pm and as a frequent concert goer, I was very thankful of their respect for time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n McPoland took the stage calling out \u201cBoston\u201d and \u201cBeantown\u201d before going into an acoustic rendition of his song, \u201cDead Air,\u201d\u00a0 where his band members stood behind him, sharing a mic, singing harmonies. I have never seen band members with so much vocal talent. It was very calming to listen to all of their voices before getting into the headbanging music McPoland is known for. It was also a very wholesome bit, as if they were young boys performing for their parents so they could all have a sleepover.<\/span><\/p>\n Without a beat, they went right into the next song, \u201cGood Day.\u201d McPoland played his acoustic guitar and the harmonica, which he got a bit trapped in upon first pick up. Ever since \u201cShit Show\u201d went viral on TikTok, I\u2019ve felt his voice was nasally and raspy, but hearing him live really changed my perception. His voice has this tone of forced restraint which comes across as a very intentional, methodic way of singing, which I really enjoyed. His breath work is also an incredible talent. He was able to sing and immediately play harmonica without revealing a single deep breath.<\/span><\/p>\n They immediately went into playing \u201cWhat Do You Do To Me?,\u201d when I noticed, and was refreshed by, the lack of phones blocking my view. The crowd was so present with McPoland; it made the concert one thousand times better. It was also shocking, considering his fanbase loves him not only for his music but also his looks. I was expecting the amount of phones I saw at Role Model before his virality, maybe even more.<\/span><\/p>\n What shocked me the most about Peter McPoland’s music wasn\u2019t the amount of hard rock and electric guitar, but rather the magnificence of his storytelling. Every song has a clear narrative and not too much repetition in lyrics. The tracks reflect new chapters in someone’s life and I really appreciated the emotion he put into each lyric he sang.<\/span><\/p>\n During the first break of his concert, he told a sweet story about how he was just a guy living in Bristol, Rhode Island and how if it weren’t for the people he met, he would have never gotten to be playing at the Royale in Boston.<\/span><\/p>\n He was able to capture the feeling of falling for someone you know you shouldn’t be falling for perfectly in his next song, \u201cSlow Down\u201d which was filled with emotions and transitioned seamlessly into \u201cMary Anne.\u201d He swapped his acoustic for an electric guitar, having broken his pick previously, and absolutely shredded on. His voice through this was still incredible and consequently, the energy in the room was electric. He continued seamlessly into \u201cBlue\u201d. These songs being played back to back sent McPoland into a ten minute sequence of uninterrupted jams.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After that high energy medley, he proceeded to chug his water with no hands and say \u201cIt\u2019s all Tito\u2019s,\u201d sending a wave of laughter across the room.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI had this deck that I got off of Facebook Marketplace\u2026 I had the headphones and mic that came with it and I made this demo and put it on TikTok,\u201d said McPoland. \u201cI remember I was at the gym and was sitting. I wasn’t going to the gym [often]. I was on this one, you know?\u201d he said as he aggressively demonstrated chest flyes to the crowd. \u201cI was working out for about five minutes and then I was sitting there, listening to Vampire Weekend. I was looking down at the carpet in this gym and I was hungry. Not hungry in my belly, though I might have been\u2026I’m hungry now actually. But I was hungry for something to get me somewhere you know? So I left the gym\u2026 It was just such a hard time and I wrote this and I put it on TikTok and it kind of made the difference. I went into LA and did a bunch of sessions. I think it was the first song I put out when I got signed. This one was my first step into fulfilling the dream. Thanks for getting me here, really,\u201d said McPoland to introduce his song, \u201cShit Show.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Everyone in the crowd knew this song, so the fans created a huge mosh pit dancing together. The way he and his band worked together for this one was really special.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe had too heavy of a set for the beginning of the tour, but I felt like I was just singing \u201cLet Her Remember\u201d the whole show. It was too slow, so I made [the album] \u201cPiggy\u201d so [that] I could move. Thanks for following me on that big switch. [The setlist] was different at the start of the tour, so we are doing songs we don\u2019t play as much. Tonight, I have a song I wrote and produced about a year ago and released on SoundCloud to just let it sit but I\u2019m gonna try it; so this is a practice run,\u201d said McPoland. \u201cIt might be a little messy is what I\u2019m saying, but you guys get it.\u201d He played \u201cLaika\u201d beautifully, telling the story of what feels like being alone but not truly alone, just distant from those you love. As someone who loves female artists for their literature on this subject, he really encapsulated me here.<\/span><\/p>\n This far into the show, McPoland clearly was comfortable with his fans and introduced his band by asking what they ate for dinner and what they did that day. It was most of their first times in Boston, which was really sweet to learn. He then asked the crowd when the Boston Tea Party was. After a range of answers, he asked his dad who was in the audience! McPoland declared that it happened in 1775, regardless of what the truth was. He then celebrated his dad\u2019s presence, asking for a cheer and confessing \u201cI would not be here without him. We were a band in high school and practiced upstairs in our house for hours on end.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The fans then shrieked at the intro of \u201cRomeo & Juliet,\u201d a song with very clear pop undertones. The chemistry on stage was enthralling and the energy in the crowd was contagious, both reverberating across the walls of Royale.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A man in the crowd then screamed \u201cchicken jockey,\u201d a popular meme phrase based on the Minecraft movie, to which McPoland screamed back, asking him for a song suggestion. Matt, the man who shouted, then requested \u201cRats.\u201d This track was really interesting to me because it sounded like it should have been some sort of children’s folk song in the way it was sung, but it was also just a fun song to listen to because of how well it was rehearsed. In this song specifically, McPoland’s band sang backup vocals while McPoland strummed his guitar and sang the lyrics.<\/span><\/p>\n Wearing a set of headphones, McPoland then played \u201cString Lights.\u201d It was very slow, but was an incredible display of storytelling once again, examining growth in a way that really resonated with me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He then took a full 180 and played \u201cI Love The Animals\u201d which got the crowd bouncing on their feet once again. In the best way possible, it was like a children’s rock song. Just fun and fluffy, which was honestly really refreshing. The way he\u2019s able to play, jump, and sing all at once with multiple key changes was very impressive. The song ended with crazy flashing lights and a ton of screams from stage right.<\/span><\/p>\n The screams perfectly translated into one of his most viral songs, \u201cDigital Silence,\u201d which in this political climate got the people of Boston really loud. The only way to compare how I felt listening to this was if I was seeing Green Day\u2019s \u201cAmerican Idiot\u201d live for the first time. McPoland was headbanging in a way I\u2019ve yet to witness and he continued to crush it on vocals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At the end of the song, he took a minute to call out every musician for doing fake encores. He said they were a waste of time and he would much rather keep the energy going. \u201cHere, this is your encore,\u201d he said and played \u201cA Place Like This.\u201d The song was the perfect close as it started slow and became another huge moshpit in which Peter himself jumped into the crowd to dance with fans. Not only was that brave, but it showed how respectful his fans are of him and his music.<\/span><\/p>\n Overall, this show was not at all what I expected. On the internet, he seems like a shy boy and looks like he sings sad indie songs. In reality, he just wants to play dynamic music, have fun with his friends, and put out work that people can dance, jump, and scream to with friends.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo Credit: Jo Anderson Review by Isabelle Ireland On Friday, February 27th, Peter McPoland played an incredible set at the Royale. Beginning at 7pm, the opening band, DUG, was the best opener I have ever witnessed. The band, hailing all the way from Dublin, was able to get the crowd to clap, boo, sing, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25741,"featured_media":53218,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1525,1523,15],"tags":[2667,138],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53217"}],"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\/25741"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53217"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53219,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53217\/revisions\/53219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}