Boys Like Girls bring their early records to life at Brooklyn Paramount
A Friday night at one of my favorite venues, Brooklyn Paramount. Fans head over heels for Boys Like Girls on The Soundtrack of Your Life tour, a show that has been sold out for months.
I was granted access to shoot the entire set as the band played their self-titled debut (2006) and Love Drunk (2009) front to back. A full-circle moment for me personally. This was one of the last bands I saw live before diving headfirst into concert photography.
It also felt like a fitting return for the band, who spent time in Brooklyn while piecing together Love Drunk. It might sound cliché, but the moments between songs were just as memorable as the massive 24-song set from the Boston-area band. But before getting there, let’s cover the openers.
ARROWS IN ACTION
Hailing from Nashville, Tennessee, Arrows in Action opened the night with a tight seven-song set. The three-piece band leans into pop-punk and alt-rock, delivering a clean, polished sound. The set felt controlled and deliberate, favoring precision over distortion and edginess. A room the size of Brooklyn Paramount can be intimidating for an opener, but the band didn’t show any hesitation. The early crowd gave them a warm welcome to Brooklyn, with many at the barricade singing along.
iDKHOW
In contrast to Arrows in Action, I Dont Know How But They Found Me (“iDKHOW”) met the now-full room with movement, rhythm, and a more outward stage presence. The Salt Lake City project was a natural progression, bridging that pop-leaning start into something with more bite as the second opener for Boys Like Girls.
The four-piece moved constantly across the stage with plenty of showmanship. Frontman Dallon Weekes was dressed in retro threads and handled the space with ease, just as comfortable with a guitar in hand as without, and the rest of the band matched his energy. By the end of their set, the crowd was loosened up, dancing and giving their energy back toward the stage.
BOYS LIKE GIRLS
As the headliners prepared to take the stage, a wall of tube TVs flickered to life, looping old footage and pop culture clips that pulled the room straight back to the late 2000s. This was such an impressive set design and the perfect way to bring an aura of nostalgia, transporting the crowd back to the time around the albums featured tonight.
As the band took the stage, they were dressed in their signature throwback rock aesthetic, skinny jeans, jerseys, leather jackets, headbands, and layered jewelry. The crowd erupted before the first chord, and the energy never let up for the next two hours.
Between songs, the band leaned into storytelling as much as the music. Frontman Martin Johnson reflected on those early years, broke and just getting by, living in apartments that were the definition of a “landlord special.” He told a story about dragging a discarded, moldy rug and whatever else they could find off the sidewalk back into their place, a reminder of how far they’ve come. What stuck just as much was his gratitude for the fans who have stayed with them over the past two decades.
Johnson made a point to connect with the crowd throughout the night. At one point, he spotted a fan holding a note on his phone, asking him to sign a copy of an old band DVD, which he did on the spot. Towards the end of the set, he traded one of his tambourines for a Labubu doll a fan had fashioned in his likeness. But the most memorable of the evening was when Johnson turned the entire room’s attention to a fan on the floor to propose to his girlfriend. She said yes! (Be sure to spot all these special moments in our image galleries!)
I don’t often get the chance to move through a room like this while shooting, so having full access made it possible to take in those moments from a different angle. Passing along guitar picks and watching the fans reactions up close added another special layer to the night for me. Usually, the barricade is a blur during those first three songs. Here, I could actually see it unfold, fans reconnecting with songs and memories, much like the footage looping across the TV screens behind the band.
With the tour not even halfway through, Boys Like Girls continues down the East Coast before turning west for the next month of dates. If this night in Brooklyn was any indication, you can only imagine how many moments like this are unfolding in every city along the way. Boys Like Girls is making sure their music stays with people long after the show ends.
BOYS LIKE GIRLS SETLIST
Brooklyn Paramount, Brooklyn, New York (4/3/2026)
Love Drunk (2009)
Heart Heart Heartbreak
Love Drunk
She’s Got a Boyfriend Now
Two Is Better Than One
Contagious
Real Thing
Someone Like You
The Shot Heard Round the World
The First One
Chemicals Collide
Go
Boys Like Girls (2006)
The Great Escape
Five Minutes to Midnight
Hero/Heroine
On Top of the World
Thunder
Me, You and My Medication
Up Against the Wall
Dance Hall Drug
Learning to Fall
Heels Over Head
Broken Man
Holiday
Encore:
The Great Escape x Love Drunk
