From Here to Mars made a stop at the House of Blues Anaheim on April 8, bringing a strong line-up to the stage.
To kick off the night of music was the band, Brothers James. This band is a side project that two members of We The Kings, Coley O’Toole and Hunter Thomsen.
Brother James played with passion and left the venue in a good mood for the rest of the night. According to their twitter, they now plan on finishing up their debut EP.
Singer songwriter, Elena Coats, was the second act to take the stage that night. She began her set with an original song “Lowkey.”
Coats’ performed a cover of “Here” by Alessia Cara that got the crowd singing along with her while she played the guitar.
Even though her set was short, that wouldn’t be the last time she graced the stage.
The next group to go on is She Is We, lead by singer Rachel Taylor, who brings spunk on the stage with her short hair and edgy outfit.
Paying tribute to their previous project, He Is We, they sang “All About Us.”
Taylor brought up a recent interaction with her dad, “he called me up from a landline. that’s the phone that’s connected to your house,” Taylor joked, “and my dad says ‘I think you’ve gone viral.'”
Taylor also mentions that shes a survivor of PTSD. “I got through it from the help of fans and the help of encouragement.” She is pretty open about her feelings on the band’s social media, which in turn seems to give encouragement to her fans.
She Is We then performed more songs off their of their latest record, “WAR.”
They were followed by a three piece group from New York called AJR comprised of three brothers: Adam, Jack, and Ryan Met.
Jack was front and center playing the synth and doing what could only be described as “t-rex dancing” all around the stage.
They played an original song, “I’m Not Famous,” as well as a cover of a song by the Weeknd. Which started out with Jack on vocals, Ryan on the keys and Adam on the synth. To end the cover with a bang, they brought out a small stand up bass and a floor tom.
The last song they played was “I’m ready” which got the whole crowd clapping along to the catchy bass-line.
Last but not least it was time for the headliner to go on, We The Kings.
Lead by crowd favorite, Travis Clark, they started their set with the song “Skyway Avenue,” which got the crowd pumped for the rest of their set.
They sang the song “I Feel Alive” and the crowd followed direction from Clark to do the sorority squat w
hen given a cue then jump up and down like the inflatable dancing form found outside car dealerships with arms flailing when certain lyrics were sang.
Clark brings up the fact that he recently became a father and that it changed his life dramatically. It has changed the way he thinks about things, he introduces their next song by saying it’s about the first night he played “Tetris” with a girl. This story led them into the song “Secret Valentine.
Clark then talks about how he wrote a secret song, “Jenny’s Song” that no one heard until the day he got married. This was followed by the song “Runaway,” which he dedicated to the fans.
Coats then joined them on stage and performed the songs “Sad Song” and “XO” while the crowd cheered.
We The Kings performed another quick cover of the chorus “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz to test the vocals of the crowd. Which let them to the song “Say You Like Me.”
Closing out the night with the crowd favorite “Check Yes Juliet,” it seemed the crowd would be left with amazing memories to hold them over till the next time the band visits Southern California for the Vans Warped Tour.
