AJR announced their first-ever arena tour on November 8, 2023, two days before releasing their 5th studio album, The Maybe Man. The presale went up on November 13, so I begged my dad to get tickets for me and my friends. I hadn’t even heard the album yet, but I knew that I had to see them live. Their Boston show was set to be on April 4, 2024. They sold out TD Garden very quickly, so they added another show in August.
For months I waited. This was going to be the greatest night of my life, I just knew it. On the day of their first show in Norfolk, Virginia, they, unfortunately, had to cancel and reschedule the show because the venue was too small for the show they wanted to put on. This reasonably worried me, but they assured all their fans on Instagram that they have double-checked every other arena and this isn’t a problem anywhere else. They instead played their first show in Philadelphia.
When the show started, I was giddy. The music was great, the vocals were awesome, and the visuals were phenomenal. The first song “Maybe Man” featured many versions of the lead singer, Jack Met. The end of the song seamlessly flowed into one of their most popular songs “Sober Up,” a song about growing up but not wanting to leave one’s younger self behind.
A highlight from the show was when they tricked the audience into thinking a light had fallen, and when the crew came out to clean it up, it turned out to be the lead singer in a Scooby-Doo-style mask.
From their highest highs to their lowest lows, this concert revealed even the most vulnerable sides of the band. During the finale, Jack Met gave a heartfelt and emotional speech about how whenever they were bullied in school or felt threatened by the music industry, their father would always be there to encourage them. Their father, who died last year, told them to “never spend one second of your life not being yourself.” They took this to heart and made this the entire message of their album and their tour.
No matter what, whether their concert venue doesn’t work out or whether they are hated by most, AJR will make music for as long as they can. They do this for the fans, so they can look at these songs and see themselves in them. They do this so fans can find peace in knowing that they are not alone and that it’s ok to be themselves. As Jack Met said, “Life is really short. It’s way too short to not be the biggest version of yourself.”