Show Review: Jack and Jack celebrate Johnson’s Bday in Boston.
written and photographed by hunter astrid b.
more photos + rest of the gallery can be found here.
Originally blowing up on now discontinued app Vine in 2013, Jack & Jack are childhood best friends from Omaha, Nebraska who met on the first day of kindergarten while both of them wore the same t-shirt. They amassed a big following on the app due to their short comedy skits as well as short covers of songs. They were ranked in the top 20 most-followed Viners and during that time they joined the Magcon tour with known names like Cameron Dallas, Nash Grier,Aaron Carpenter, and fellow musician Shawn Mendes. Their first original song “Distance” was released in January of 2014 and have released roughly around 20+ singles, two Eps and two studio albums. Their first Ep Calibraska was released at the end of July in 2015 and it really helped escalate their music to a higher level.Released independently, the title is a combination of their home state Nebraska with the state they have now lived in since 2015, California. Within hours of its released it charted at number 1 on the US iTunes albums chart, even surpassing 1989 by Taylor Swift and DS2 by Future. In their early years as musicians their single “Wild Life” (2014) really blew them up as musicians and not just ‘Vine stars/influencers.’
In April of 2020 Jack Gilinksy released his debut solo single “My Love” featuring Don Toliver. At this time it was announced that Jack & Jack were going on a hiatus. In September of the same year Jack Johnson released his debut solo single “You Lie” with the stage name JVCKJ. The name Jack Johnson is often associated with known singer-songwriter with the same name (known for singles “Better Together,” “Banana Pancakes” and more) and he also wanted to prevent legal clashes with a band called JACK J. The hiatus was never due to bad blood and the duo remained close friends as they were able to explore their own artistic vision separately. In 2022 their hiatus came to an end with two new releases “Runaway” and “Right Here With You.” Their most release and their second studio album titled “Home” was released on March 1st of 2024.
Seeing Jack & Jack live was honestly such a nostalgic thing for me and seeing a song live that helped me through the worst times of my life while transitioning to a big high school was very therapeutic. I was the demographic of their content when they were on Vine and I used to watch them all of the time. I always thought the two of them were the coolest people out and would’ve done anything to meet them. I was heartbroken I never was able to go to a Magcon event or see them in concert, but honestly it was probably best for a daydreaming 15 year old. At 23 all I can say is that life really does things in interesting ways and getting the chance to photograph them was truly a full circle moment for me. The Brighton Music Hall was completely sold out and the room was packed wall to wall with barely any room to move. Filled with old and new fans the energy in the room was ecstatic and I could feel the excitement right when I walked through the door. Seeing the two of them interact together on stage really shows just how much the two of them know each other, musically and personally, and how much their friendship means to one another. Most of the crowd already seemed to know all of the lyrics to songs off their album they released at the beginning of the month and the lyrics were loudly shouted back to the duo. When Jack & Jack did a mashup up of all of their big hits from mid 2010’s (“Flights,” “Paradise (Never Change),” “Shallow Love,” “How We Livin,” “Wild Life,” “Wrong One,” “California,” “Groove,” “Tides”) everyone in the crowd went crazy, me included. The show actually fell on March 28th, which happened to be Johnson’s birthday and according to Gilinksy when he found out his birthday was going to be in Boston he was ecstatic about it. Well, hopefully we lived up to that anticipation and we all eagerly await their return back to our city.
MY FAVORITE SONG: “Tides” (2014)
