Hello everybody, welcome back to the No Skip Show! Today, we are sharing our experience of a great concert that happened just this Easter Sunday on April the 5th at local Pittsburgh venue Bottlerocket! This awesome show would have funny, smooth, explosive Okay Cool and Arcadia Gray as direct support with the electric, fun, down to Earth Dear Maryanne as the stellar headliner! I tell you, for a show on Easter Sunday it was just as great and fun as a show on a random Friday night.

Chicago, Illinois natives Okay Cool immediately started the show off with a fun and light-hearted tone, promising the crowd an Easter surprise/reward at the end of their set to one lucky fan, offering great joke hints throughout the set as well. The reward was a Cadbury chocolate egg, I was hoping for a traditional hard-boiled but that makes more sense. The band's performance was just as awesome as the lead vocalists' jokes and crowd work, being excellent with the quick, dry, random humor that connected with the crowd very well. I really enjoyed the two vocalists switching off songs, almost balancing the whole set between each other. Both brought a very unique swing to the songs they fronted while also adding to the other vocalist with backing vocals when it wasn’t their turn to lead a song. There were fast and hard-hitting moments but overall the feeling was very chill, smooth, and quite relaxing, easing everyone into the rest of the show.

Now, Arcadia Gray, also from Chicago, Illinois, brought the tempo up quite a bit, and the humor. Also having two vocalists who would switch off songs and add backing vocals, both were hilarious and great at making everyone feel like they’re just chilling with friends the entire time. But, they also kicked absolute ass during their entire performance, bringing the faster-paced more emotional sense to the show. This would be the band to rock the crowds socks off and really get us moving and jumping around. Amongst their own stand-up bits they were kind enough to welcome Freddie himself to the stage a few times to demonstrate his own gold standard comedy, which was great each time! You can definitely tell these two bands, as well as the others on the bill, are one big happy family and really enjoy playing shows with each other. I was less familiar with Arcadia and Okay Cool but after the show I told Travis I definitely would be checking them out a lot more since attending.

Heading the short but sweet night would be the men, the myth, the Boston, Mass emo legends themselves, Dear Maryanne!! These gents deserve everything they are getting and more for they put on a show for the ages. Like I said before, the show was Easter Sunday so attendance was lower than it could’ve been normally but that did not stop Freddie and the boys from putting their whole heart into it for everyone there. From start to finish it was fast-paced, high energy, and killer vibes for the whole set, as long as continuing the laidback humor through the whole night. This would actually be my very first time seeing the band but I can certainly say it will not be my last as it was a blast from start to finish. I didn’t mention it till now however, but I mentioned to Travis after we left on how incredible Bottlerocket and each band sounded. Highly surprising for a small local venue that looks like an old VFW, but something that adds so much to a local spot.

Emo is a more underrated genre for me but one I am slowly getting more and more into to my super delight! Do any of you love Freddie and Dear Maryanne as much as us? Any emo fans down below that are catching this tour anywhere else? As always, thanks for reading and happy listening!