We last saw The Maine’s John, Garrett, Kennedy, Pat, and Jared during their You Are OK tour in 2019 – a little recap of that here.

PULP Live World delighted The Maine’s Pinoy fans by bringing them back for a show at the Skydome SM City North EDSA, just as the concert scene has been coming back to life in the Philippines! 

Filipino 5-piece band Written By The Stars played the opening set. We were hit with a wave of 2000s nostalgia with their punk-rock sound, a perfect way to set the vibe before the main act took the stage.

After Written By The Stars’ high-energy set, a video montage of The Maine’s shows flashed on screen. The show was about to start! 

The Maine kicked things off with “Sticky” off their latest album, XOXO: From Love and Anxiety in Real Time. Skydome was immediately filled with screaming, singing, and dancing! 

Before continuing the show, lead singer John O’Callaghan asked everyone to put their phones down, stop taking videos, and just jump and dance to the next song. Then they played the perfect song to encapsulate the feelings of long-time The Maine listeners: “Like We Did (Windows Down)” from the Pioneer album. 

Then, everyone sang along to their 2019 hit “Numb Without You” before John got real about how the last two years have been for everyone. Live concerts were just one of the many things we lost temporarily to the pandemic, and that was hard for both artists and fans. But two years later, things are looking up, and The Maine was ecstatic to be back in Manila! "Look around you, everybody. Don’t look at me, look at someone next to you,” John said. “We’re in a room full of people! Live music is back, baby!"

Everyone rocked out to “Am I Pretty,” “Love In Real Time,” “Slip the Noose,” and more The Maine hits, with awesome lights and pyrotechnics to add to the rock & roll vibe. Then John asked, “Who here has been listening to us for fifteen years?” and they took things back all the way to 2008 with “We All Roll Along.” It’s one of their first hits, and their delivery of it has matured a lot over the years, but it still hits the same way it did back then! 

After playing “Bad Behavior,” the band treated the Filipino audience to a surprise: The live debut of their new song “Box In A Heart!” John and lead guitarist Jared Monaco shared the spotlight for this one, and the audience turned their flashlights on to sway to the slow, sentimental song. It’s been almost a week since they played this for the first time, but fans everywhere are already demanding the band to release it! 

When the band took a little break to check how everyone was doing and ask for song requests, two very special things happened. First, a fan named Lance held up a sign asking if he could play the song “Run” with The Maine. They happily obliged, even though it’s not a song they normally play at shows, and they invited Lance up on stage – and Lance absolutely killed it! 

Of course, the whole audience was hyped with everything happening and cheered Lance on as they played “Run” until the first chorus. John even got an audience member to sing the first verse since he couldn’t remember the words. You could tell that every member of the band was impressed, and they really enjoyed just jamming with each other! It was awesome to witness a true fan’s dream come true. 

The second special moment happened when the audience requested The Maine to play “Into Your Arms” next. They admitted that they hadn’t performed that song in around 4 years, but were happy to do it for the Filipino fans. Immediately, the entire Skydome burst into song and sang along to one of our all-time favorites. For a lot of us, it took us back to the early days when we first fell in love with The Maine! 

The band played two more songs before the night ended: Ultimate crowd pleasers “Black Butterflies and Deja Vu” and “Another Night on Mars.” Confetti shot up into the air as everyone sang the words that will forever resonate to the community The Maine have fostered within their fans: “With friends like ours anywhere is home.” 

Big thanks to PULP Live World for bringing back our favorite band from Phoenix, Arizona and making this concert possible!