Concert Photos (667)

• August 29, 2024
• Colleen Johnson
• 228
• 0

Photos by: John Hutchings

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Since Something Corporate‘s Out of Office Tour was announced, anticipation has built for fans nationwide. When it came to SoCo’s show at one of Boston’s newest venues, Roadrunner, the show sold out almost instantly. And for obviously a good reason. The love in the room last Saturday night was evident for the longtime act, and the mood was set perfectly by longtime Andrew McMahon collaborator Zac Clark, who would later join Something Corporate on stage for a double-header of an evening. Clark’s set was composed of eight or nine of his tracks. No stranger to Boston, I caught Clark when he went on tour with Bob Oxblood (of Jack’s Mannequin and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness). In that setting, each got to shine on their own and perform songs from their original bodies of work. Clark spoke about getting the call from the SoCo frontman to join the band on tour, which was a dream come true despite Clark previously performing with McMahon as part of Andrew McMahon and the Wilderness over the years.  Hidden in Plain View also took the stage as main support.  Many bands take the main support slot for this run, each having a few dates for this iconic run.  There were fans of the band in the room that night, but the energy was palpable leading up to the main act of the evening. 

Something Corporate came out on stage to the tune of SemiSonic’s “Closing Time.” As the band settled into their positions, the screen behind them came to life with MTV News footage. Throughout the night, in interludes, each band member had a clip played from their youth emblazoned with the words Something____, each time, this included a well-placed blown kiss from McMahon to the screen throughout the set.  The band opened with “Fall,” and while the setlists consisted of standards like “Drunk Girl” and “Ruthless,” the band typically switched up the setlist throughout the tour.  Boston fans would be treated later that night to the first live performance of “Miss America,” solo, and for the first time since 2003. 

The second song up was “I Want to Save You,” and it was the first interaction with the crowd by frontman Andrew McMahon.  McMahon said, “I’m not even going to ask because I’m feeling good, and I think we’re all feeling good tonight.” It was fitting to have “I Want to Save You” with that famous New Found Glory shout-out. Coincidentally, NFG played in the same room the night before.  What a rowdy sequence of shows to close out the summer in Boston, where so many legacy acts have toured this summer. 

But none are just alike to SoCo.  It was evident by the visceral reactions from the audience throughout the night that the cult following the band has maintained hasn’t gone anywhere. The show was much anticipated, and up until about a year or two ago, it would have been unheard of. And while touring for the band has changed (they are off until September 12th, then wrap up the tour in bits until October 12th), the adoration of each other on stage was clear. 

The crowd started to propel into action with “Space,” coming in about twenty minutes into the almost two-hour performance the band put on. Then, the band careened into a hits parade with crowd favorites, such as “She Paints Me Blue,” right into “Drunk Girl.” After standing away from the piano for the first time, McMahon spoke a little bit about how it felt to regroup with the band, to the smiles of bandmate William Tell, with a huge shit-eating grin. Ending with, “Boston, you’ve been good to us since 2002. Twenty-two years later, you’re still showing up strong.” This was right before the band dove into “Ruthless.” 

At this point, to huge roars, the band dropped into “21 & Invincible.” If anyone has been to an Andrew McMahon show in any sense, we know he loves a little crowd jumping. Jumping into the crowd for the next track, “The Astronaut,” the phones started coming out in hordes at this point. Slipping into the next moment of “Only Ashes,” it continued to be a constant presence throughout the rest of the night. Before the next track, McMahon spoke about who the song was for in the next big moment with “Punk Rock Princess.” McMahon said, “To the girl that finally fell in love with me,” speaking about his longtime partner, Kelly. With this one, the crowd never stopped, jumping and screaming. At this point, it was time for one of the band’s new songs. While it was the only track of the night that was brand new, it’s a sign that, hopefully, fans will have new music on the horizon. Introducing “Happy,” McMahon said two things. First, when talking about the song’s writing, “When the world was burning down, it turns out it’s always burning down.” To the song’s intro, “I don’t even care if you like it. I just want you to freak out like you did when you were 24,18.” 

At this point, the set slowed down with moments like “As You Sleep” but quickly propelled to McMahon jumping back in the crowd to the tune of “Hurricane,” amongst others. But the band ended their regular set to the notes of none other than “If You C Jordan.” Prefacing it with McMahon saying, “This song isn’t a love song, I’m not going to lie to you.” The audience’s cheers didn’t have to go on long. McMahon came out to his piano, starting off the encore with the aforementioned first live performance of “Miss America” since 2003. McMahon spoke of who the song was written for: his now-wife/then-girlfriend. 

After “Miss America,” McMahon jumped into a song strictly reserved for SoCo shows. While moments like “She Paints Me Blue” and “Ruthless” seem to show up in Jacks or Andrew McMahon and The Wilderness shows, it looks like “Konstantine” is exclusively reserved for a Something Corporate performance, and rightfully so. With another nod to his longtime partner, instead of singing, “Did you know I miss you?” McMahon seemingly changed the words to “Kelly, I miss you” in a slumberly nature. For fans in the know, the amount of references is only something the crowd awwed at in glee. McMahon’s wife has been by his side through Something Corporate, Jack’s Mannequin,his battle with leukemia, pretty much his whole creative existence. So never did this come across as cheesy, and the little moments and dedications he gave throughout never were not applauded and woo’ed for by those in attendance. 

Coming to the close of a slew of beauties from the boys in SoCo, the band had a little bit of a giggle to bring the mood in the room back up. McMahon said, “We wanted to play this for a certain Boston actor,” covering Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing.” The cover went down to the tunes of Ben Affleck’s 90s-esque love scenes from Armageddon and a dose of How Do You Like Them Apples ala Matt Damon. The band rounded out the night with the legendary track, “I Woke Up in A Car,” as the classic video streamed behind them! It was the perfect way to cap off a night appreciated by those in attendance. 

While I’ve covered Andrew McMahon’s projects in the past, this was the first time I witnessed a full Something Corporate show. Not just songs spruced in from all his different projects over the years, and it was one for the books. It’s clear from the energy on stage and the aforementioned blown kisses that the re-connection for the band, being back together on stage, clearly means the world to them and their fans. Hopefully, the release of new music in “Happy” and “Death Grip” will indicate that this won’t be the last time we hear of Something Corporate in Boston.

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Photos – Something Corporate, Hidden in Plain View, Zac Clark at Roadrunner in Boston, MA on August 24th: (By: John Hutchings)