In advance of their sixth studio album (Lovely, Little, Lonely out April 7, 2017 on 8123), The Maine set out on the "Lovely, Little, Lonely World Tour" and the band stopped by Portland's Wonder Ballroom on April 4, days before the release of the album. Out of all the tours, albums, and eras, these guys have never looked or sounded better than they do for Lovely, Little, Lonely.
The stage setup was beautiful, and perhaps is the most intricate and flashy stage the band has had. Behind them was a large red banner with the band name and outline of a rose, LED trees were placed at each corner, scattered across the floor of the stage were multicolored faux roses, these roses were also stitched together and draped over the front of the elevated drum set, and the band's lead vocalist (John O'Callaghan) performed in a floral suit.
What I associate The Maine with the most is their loyal fanbase, their devotion and gratitude to their fans, and the best audience interaction I have seen at a show. Typically, bands will interact with the audience as a whole and ask them to sing along and repeat after them; however, The Maine's lead vocalist John O'Callaghan takes this to a different level. John interacts with individual groups and people in the audience: asking the crowd to quiet down while he asks individual people to sing along, acknowledging and carrying out onstage conversations with audience members, and even inviting a single person to join him onstage. During the band's performance of "Girls Do What They Want," John asked a fan named Mason if he could join him onstage to finish the song. John asked Mason to repeat and sing the chorus after him, and even gave Mason the microphone to continue singing while John jumped and danced around on stage.
For the shows before the release of Lovely, Little, Lonely, the band created a well balanced setlist spanning their entire discography. The Maine opened with their single "black butterflies & déjà vu", and performed other songs that have been missing from setlists such as: "(un)lost", "we all roll along", and "the way we talk".
As they always do, to close the night the band met with fans outside The Wonder Ballroom for a free, intimate, meet and greet. Each band member had prolonged conversations with every fan that came up to them, thanked them for coming out to the show, took pictures, and signed any merch they had brought. Especially with the growing popularity of VIP tickets and paid meet and greets, this is a rarity for bands and is one of the endless reasons The Maine is something special.
Find more dates and tickets for The Maine's Lovely, Little, Lonely World Tour on their website.
