Hit the Lights and Major League

“You’re gonna need a body bag” … the audience cheers, and then sing in return “I’ll break bones you didn’t know you had” at the top of their lungs, lapping up this nostalgic pop punk sensation that is Hit the Lights. Their sophomore vocalist, Nick Thompson leads these pop punk lovers on a journey back to 2007 singing all of the biggest songs from their full length album “This is Stick Up… Don overdriven guitars from Kevin Mahoney and Omar Zehery riffing into the mid-set peak.
The quintet also performs songs from their latest release, “Invicta”, an album produced by Mike Sapone who has worked with Taking Back Sunday and Brand New, which debuted at number 129 on the billboard 200, selling over 4000 copies in its first week. “Earthquake” is the song that has everyone with their hands in the air swinging them backwards and forwards singing the chorus word for word, leaving a lasting impression on Hit the Lights’ faces as their encore of “Invincible” and a song called “Faster Now” which was in fact written with Ryan Key of Florida natives, Yellowcard.

For me, pop punk is the perfect fusion of two genres to create a sound that’s not too heavy, yet not too mainstream, and Major League have nailed their music with this combination of sounds perfectly. The show opened with the feedback ringing out through the monitor across the auditorium as the band ran on stage to the cheers of the audience. Before introducing themselves, the band launched straight into Need I Remind you, which immediately showcased all of their musical skills, from their guitar and drumming skills, to the beautiful harmonies that Brian Joyce and Matt Chila sang around each other.

They played a really good selection of their music from over the years, and even performed some short improvised sections within their tracks, so that we could hear some original material that wasn’t even recorded which was super exciting. They played through Hard Feelings almost in its entirety, and they were really good at encouraging everyone to sing along with them, and had us all crowding to the front to dance along with them. They were incredibly humble, and even stuck around for photos and autographs at the end of the show, which I thought was a lovely touch.