The Pioneer Tour presented by The Maine – REVIEW

On The Pioneer Tour presented by The Maine they came to the Bottom Lounge in Chicago. You can check out our review after the break!

Walking up to The Bottom Lounge on a cold Wednesday night in December, all you could see is a line of fans stretching around the corner of the venue. Everyone was in line for one reason and one reason only, and that was to see The Maine rock the stage. They were the only band playing the show, but that didn’t stop the show from selling out weeks in advance. I even saw resale tickets as high as $150 dollars per ticket on Stubhub. They were some dedicated fans and The Maine didn’t disappoint them.

Instead of waiting in line outside in the cold, I decided to go wait in the bar and have some food a few drinks before the show started. I felt sorry for all of the underage people in attendance since they didn’t have the option to chill in the bar and wait for the doors to open. From the inside of the bar, it was easy to scope out the crowd and there was a pretty consistent type of person walking through the door. The typical fan was of high school age and female, which wasn’t a huge surprise to me.

The doors opened at around 6pm and after about 45 minutes they venue had let in about 95% of the crowd for the night. That’s when I decided it was a good time to enter since the band was scheduled to take the stage around 7pm.

Just as planned, the band took the stage to roaring cheers around 7pm and began what I thought to be a very short set, since I was under the impression they were only playing their latest full length, “Pioneer”, in its entirety. BUT, I was sorely mistaken, as by the end of the night the band had played a 22 song set over a 2 hour period of time. Also, I would like to note the intimate vibe of the band’s stage set-up. There was a mixture of amps and gear on the stage, making it look like a basement or garage set-up. There were even two lamps set up on top of two of the amps.

The band was wearing rustic like clothing to match the theme and style of their new album. The band began by playing “Pioneer” from start to finish. One of the highlights of the first portion of their set for me was “My Heroine” since this was one of the more exciting/upbeat songs on the album. I also enjoyed “Jenny” because of the message behind to song. As the band’s lead singer, John, stated, the song was about his relationship with his mother. Other songs that really go the crowd going were “Don’t Give Up On Us” and “Identify”. The band also slowed it down with songs like “Misery” and “Thinking of You”. This first portion of their set was also filled with a decent number of inappropriate comments (for the majority of the crowd) including sexual references, blowing kisses, drinking and a few other topics.

Once they finished playing “Pioneer” all the way through, the band took a 15 minute break to enter into the second portion, the parody video. The reason I’m saying it was a parody video is because it was a video entirely making fun of their neon phase during the Can’t Stop Won’t Stop album cycle. Then, the video transitioned to them ripping on their signing to Atlantic Records and the promises the label made to them, but as most of you may know, the whole major label thing didn’t pan out for them. They proceeded to make fun of their seriousness during their second album, Black and White, and they again made fun of the style, which in this case was ummmmmmmmmm…. wearing black and white clothing.

After the video was finished, the band was ready to enter the third phase of their set, a mix of their hits from Can’t Stop Won’t Stop and Black & White albums. The songs they played included: “Inside of You”, “Right Girl”, “Everything I Asked For”, “Don’t Stop Now”, “Every Road”, and “In Your Arms”. The highlight, well actually not a highlight at all, of the night was when during “In Your Arms”, the last song of the set, a girl passed out during the song. The lead singer, John, was ending the set by himself play the song on an acoustic guitar; he stopped and asked if the girl was okay. This is when the girl fainted; by what I’m guessing was from lack of fluids or exhaustion. The girl ended up being okay and walking off the stage, but not until after security and the band’s crew rushed to her aide. John finished the song and ended the song, which ended the show.

Overall, the band did a phenomenal job of performing for their very dedicated fans. No one in the crowd seemed like they left disappointed, including me. Definitely, take the tip to listen to their new record “Pioneer”. It is easily their most mature and appealing album they have released to date

Information about the review…
Tour: The Pioneer Tour presented by The Maine
Bands: The Maine
Reviewer: Joshua Weidling
Date: December 21, 2011
Venue: The Bottom Lounge in Chicago, IL