From The Straits Times    |
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Held outside ION Orchard, the convert venue was filled with teenagers screaming their love for Boys Like Girls, the punk rock band from Massachusetts even before they walked onto stage.

The crowd cheered as the four boys finally appeared. Kicking off the set with fan favourite “Love Drunk”, the band encouraged those present to sing along with them – and they did through the whole song.

Frontman Martin Johnson was the livewire of the four, interacting with fans and even shaking the hand of one who promptly went into hysterics.

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The band then went into “Hero/Heroine”, one of their oldest songs. Johnson, ever the playful one, stopped right before the bridge of Hero/Heroine while staring expectantly at the crowd, which satisfied him with their ascending cheering.

The boys then serenaded the crowd with “California Bound”, and “Be Your Everything”, as Paul DiGiovanni harmonised Johnson’s vocals,

Johnson stopped to introduce the rest of his band, John Keefe , Paul DiGiovanni and Morgan Dorr, and started on the upbeat Life Of The Party, and even got everyone in the VIP area to get up and sing along with him.

“I’m not going to stop the song until everyone sings!” he exclaimed, as everyone raised their voices together as one while jumping along with rhythm.

The rest of the band left Johnson on the stage as he started on “Thunder”, one of our favourite songs. Ever the fun one, he stopped singing right before the chorus, which left them screaming in anticipation, and we believe, frustration, and looked on cheekily before singing again.

As the rest of the band re-joined Johnson on the stage, they started on “She’s Got A Boyfriend”, getting the audience to echo them as they sang. Dorr and DiGiovanni started walking around the stage and singing to the crowd as the audience reached forward as far as they could to touch them.

The band then went straight into “Stuck In The Middle”, sung live for the first time in Singapore.

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Everyone in ION Orchard got a pleasant surprise in the next song, “Two Is Better Than One”, when the band brought out the winner of their karaoke competition, Pam, to sing Taylor Swift’s part in the song. With Pam’s vocals accompanying Martin’s perfectly, everyone cheered their support for Pam as she made Singapore proud with her appearance at the concert.

As Boys Like Girls started their last song, “The Great Escape”, the band looked at everyone with pride, as Martin closed the concert with praises for Singapore.

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From the looks of joy on the face of the people who shook their hands, caught the guitar picks, or were still crowding around the concert venue after it has ended for a chance to catch a glimpse of the band again – the boys had definitely put on a great show.

The ION Orchard fourth anniversary concert was held on October 18, 2013. For more information on ION Orchard, visit the mall’s website at http://www.ionorchard.com/en/. You can also follow it on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/IONOrchard, Twitter @ion_orchard, Instagram @ion_orchard and Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/ionorchard/. For more information on Boys Like Girls, follow them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/boyslikegirls, Twitter @boyslikegirls and Youtube http://www.youtube.com/artist/boys-like-girls.