An emo extravaganza happened in Asbury Park, NJ, this week, and we’ve heard that attendees are still trying to wipe away their tear-stained eyeliner. All jokes aside, Dashboard Confessional and Boys Like Girls both put on a show for the ages. With classics, collaborations, and more heartbreak anthems than we thought could fit inside The Stone Pony, it was a nostalgia-filled night that we’ll be reliving for years to come.
Let’s start with Boys Like Girls, shall we? The group has been on a roll since they emerged from an 11-year-hiatus in 2023, and the Asbury Park show certainly didn’t disappoint. They played new singles like “BLOOD AND SUGAR,” “MIRACLE,” and “THE OUTSIDE” from the band’s fourth album, 2023’s Sunday at Foxwoods. And of course, also the Warped Tour-era favorites you know and love… just in time for rumors of a 2025 revival!
Do “Love Drunk,” “Hero/Heroine,” and “Heels Over Head” revive your early 2000s memories? Because the concert crowd couldn’t get enough. Boys Like Girls worked through every era of their career with ease and plenty of ultra-high notes from frontman Martin Johnson. Especially when their most famous song, “The Great Escape,” finalized the set. He even restarted the track after the first chorus to tell the audience to put away their phones and live in the moment, to which they happily obliged!
This was a great sendoff for Boys Like Girls and a lively welcome to the headliner, Dashboard Confessional. And to say that Chris Carrabba killed it would be an understatement. He began the set with an old favorite, “Vindicated,” of Spider Man 2 fame, and continued with more classics like “Saints and Sailors,” “Reason to Believe,” and “Carry This Picture.” This man is to emo what Garth Brooks is to country music, and he continued to prove it with every number.
He even treated the audience to a live debut of “Southbound and Sinking,” an underrated song from his eighth and latest album, 2022’s All the Truth That I Can Tell. Whatever decade he dove into from his dynamic catalog, Carrabba pulled every ounce of emotion from the audience in a way that only Dashboard Confessional can. And it was a beautiful thing to see. The tears flowed even further when he performed “Dusk and Summer,” “Screaming Infidelities,” and “Burning Heart.”
And then there was the moment that Carrabba brought Martin Johnson back onstage for a duet of an unreleased song called “Watch the Fire.” And it’s safe to say that the heart of every elder emo in the crowd melted at that moment. Even as both groups ended the night and the crowd went home, it was clear that this emo party would be a lasting memory. And the best part? It’s not over yet! Check the remaining dates for the Dashboard Confessional and Boys Like Girls tour, and see the full Asbury Park setlists here and here.
