A Departure Recharged: Jesse McCartney at the Boston House of Blues

It was newly New Year’s Day and my sister and I sat on our living room couch watching Jesse McCartney perform on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve special. We were shocked to see a drastic change in not only Jesse’s look, but his music as well. After he performed his current hit, Leavin’, on the 2009 show, I finally realized that the blond-haired, green-eyed Zac Efron predecessor had grown up. We had liked him with his shaggy locks and boyish charm, but would his new sound still suit our tastes? He performed two more songs and it was determined: we were back in love with him.

Even though my sister couldn't make it, I went with four friends to see Jesse perform live at the Boston House of Blues in late February. The five of us managed to make it to the venue at approximately 4:40pm. Even though the show was to start at 8pm, there was already a gigantic line formed outside the entrance.

“OH MY GOD!” screamed one of the girls in the party in front of us as we moved behind them in line. She opened her arms and grabbed each of her friends for a hug. Sensing this activity as an opportunity to mock, or rather, “fit in” to the crowd, one of my friends decided to do the same exact thing with our group. Her “OH MY GOD!” was followed by rounds of hugs and laughter.

The girls in front of us were around the age of fifteen and dressed uniformly, yet not; all sported some variation of the denim miniskirt, tights, Ugg boots, t-shirt, and hoodie outfit. Each of the girls seemed to be wearing a different Jesse fan accessory, such as a self-shredded Jesse McCartney t-shirt and a necklace with the letter J on a cross. As a friend and I walked up and down the line to pass the time, we realized that most of the people here to see Jesse were younger teens and mostly female. The first group of girls in line had been waiting since 10 am and was growing impatient to enter the venue.

When we were finally let in, the guards tried their best to prevent a stampede of girls from entering the general admission area. We were packed tightly by the stage, dancing to the standby music playing over the loudspeaker to pass the time while Jesse and his opening act, Anjulie, prepared to sing. No matter how good Anjulie performed that night, the girls in the audience wouldn't care about her until she left the stage because her leaving would signify that the man of their dreams was about to perform. (“Oh my God, is she done yet? Is he coming out yet?”).

During the wait time for Jesse to appear, the standby music came on again and each time one song ended, there was a ten second pause that fooled us into thinking that he would finally come out. To occupy their time, the girls around me began talking to each other about each other, regardless of whether or not they knew each other. There were nasty remarks about other girls’ outfits, other girls’ appearances, and about people not even at the concert (“I love The Hills!” one girl shouted. “F*ck The Hills!” someone replied.). Is this what teen girls did to pass the time?

Jesse finally made his grand entrance with Freaky, a song from his new album, Departure. Sporting a silver suit and aviator glasses, the screams in the House of Blues was deafening. Girls were pushing each other to move closer to the stage in a wavelike motion. I tried to plant my feet firmly to the ground, but to avail; I was getting pushed around by people nearly 10 years younger than me. After performing a couple of new songs off of his new album, he “went back to where it all began” by performing his previous hits, Beautiful Soul and She’s No You. The lyrical content of his songs had changed drastically over the past four years. Before, he seemed to sing about girls from a distance and admire them. Now, he sang about deeper relationship issues such as break-ups and commitment. However, he didn’t sing them in the same pop tone as his previous two albums, Beautiful Soul and Right Where You Want Me. Instead, Departure carried an experimental vibe, with Jesse using hip-hop and electronic beats. His live performances were nearly as good as his recordings, which was refreshing since many artists these days seem to sound completely different (and incompetent) singing in person.

The highlight of the show occurred during the middle of his concert: the Oxygen performance. Every fan knew this was a famous Jesse pastime. At every concert, as can be seen on YouTube, Jesse picks a girl from the audience to go on stage to sit down as he serenades her with Oxygen, a song on the rerelease of his new album to be called Departure Recharged. When the instrumental for Oxygen played in the background, the screams of girls around me increased in intensity. They all wanted to be the one on stage. Jesse walked across the stage, examining each part of the room.

“Is she on this side of the room?” he said as he stood towards the right. The girls in that area screamed even louder. “Or is she in the middle of the room?” he said next. On cue, the girls in the middle pushed forward and screamed. He even looked towards the balcony, giving them a chance to believe they could be the one. After about ten minutes, he finally chose a girl form the far end of the area, a girl who had long wavy hair and was wearing a Jesse McCartney t-shirt and jeans. The height of the show also happened to be the height of the cattiness amongst the girls. Even though Jesse had announced to the crowd, “Everyone be nice to Mikayla,” the girls couldn’t help themselves but criticize.

“Oh my God, she’s so ugly!”

“She’s wearing a stupid Jesse McCartney t-shirt!”

“She’s not excited AT ALL!”

Everyone wanted to be the Oxygen girl, but did they know it also meant constant badmouthing from every jealous girl in the audience, as well as on YouTube after the video of the performance would be posted for all the world to see? I was growing weary of being surrounded by malicious teen girls and was ready to leave after Jesse closed the show with his hit, Leavin’. About one-third of the crowd trickled out after Leavin’, but the rest of the audience (including me) stayed for the encore performance of Body Language, a new song to be featured on the album rerelease. At the end of performing the encore, he threw a white towel he had used to wipe the sweat off of his face into the crowd. The girls who were in range to catch the towel tugged at it from every direction, eventually ripping it to claim a little chunk of it for themselves.

On my way out, I was tired, sweaty, and ready to get outside to breathe in some air. Even though I had a good time, it had been too many catty girls in too small of an area. My friends and I finally reunited by the wall by coat check to avoid getting caught up in the wave of people leaving. We asked the girls standing nearby to take a group picture for us. They wore bright green self-decorated t-shirts and high ponytails as if it were the 80s. Two of them gladly came to assist us while the rest of their group also got ready to leave. Our photo op kept getting interrupted by drunk people at the bar in the venue cutting between the camera and us. The other girls nearby us noticed this and were outraged.

"Excuse me! We're trying to take a picture here!" one of them yelled. The rest of the group linked arms and blocked anyone else from ruining the picture.

So teenage girls could be nice. We thanked them for helping us out and with that, the evening came to a close for me with a more positive impression of teen girls. In the end, we were all really just there for a good time.

(1395 words [with prior permission to exceed limit])