Live Review

The Maine – The Garage, Glasgow

• 22nd Mar 2011

Two young American acts played in Glasgow last night, and both received rapturous receptions from an even younger, and mostly female, crowd.

Never Shout Never, the alter ego of twenty year old American acoustic pop artist Christofer Ingle played first. Accompanied by his drummer he walked onto the stage, tall, thin and barefoot, to a barrage of screaming.

Ingle is moving away from the acoustic world, it seems, and played electric guitar throughout this short but impressive set. His guitar playing shows promise and his voice is strong and confident, suiting his melodic songs perfectly.

A scarf was thrown on stage, which Ingle picked up and out on. This turned out to be a cue for a hail of items to be launched forward, including necklaces, wristbands and even a teddy bear.

Towards the end of his performance Ingle mentioned that he would be back with a full band next time and that format could well allow his music to grow further.

The Maine have built a good reputation as a live band, and after several support slots were paying their first headline UK tour. The Arizona quintet seemed eager to grasp the opportunity and stormed through their opening numbers in double quick time.

My Heroine and most recent single Right Girl from the new album Black And White opened the set and from the off the crowd was singing along with every word.

Frontman John O’Callaghan played acoustic guitar on Into Your Arms, the pace only reduced slightly. The chorus turned into an audience singalong and the song ended with some nice guitar work from Jared Monaco.

Girls Do What They Want, from the band’s first album, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, saw O’Callaghan seek a volunteer from the audience, and he was not short of offers.

One young man was called up to join the band and he gave a very decent shot at singing the chorus. He left the stage after hugging as many of the band as he could, his night made in a way he probably never imagined possible.

The set ended with Our Street, a heavy drum beat setting a fast rhythm for a fine track, and We’ll All Be which featured an extended instrumental ending. Despite the clamour from the audience there was to be no encore.

The Maine have what is basically a fairly standard rock sound. But their enthusiasm and obvious pleasure in playing live music elevates their performance above that of many similar bands. And their legion of young fans certainly enjoyed the show.