Allison Weiss hadn’t played a show in Boston in over a year. To her dearest fans, search this was the show they had been waiting for all spring, order and with the bill of Pentimento, Candy Hearts, and Maura supporting her at Great Scott on April 3rd, the crowd was in for a magical evening of pop-punk glory at its finest in 2013.

First up was local act Maura from Somerville. With their simple lyrics and bored appearance, they were reminiscent of a Dookie-era Green Day. Melodic guitars and hard-hitting drums provided the front row filled with friends great opportunities for slow head banging in time with the music.

From here, Candy Hearts took the stage. The band hails from one of the pop punk capitals of the US, New Jersey. If Max Bemis of Say Anything and his wife Sherri’s future daughter traveled back in time to start a band, it would be Candy Hearts’ lead singer Mariel Loveland. Though a young band that formed in 2010, they have been making their mark on the scene with appearances on MTV’s Buzzworthy blog and a production relationship with New Found Glory’s Chad Gilbert. Mariel’s vocals were lost behind the loud guitars and drums, but they put on a solid pop punk show that reminded me of my high school days of yore.

Pentimento has restored my faith in the future of pop punk. The last time I felt this refreshed of a genre thanks to a band was when I discovered Four Year Strong in 2005. With honest lyrics and upbeat guitars, one couldn’t help but fall in love with their set that night. (It might have also helped that the band would all be worthy of a humpday hunxxx treatment.)

I have seen Allison Weiss live too many times to remember, even attending a show as far as her home base of New York City. Every single show is worthy of attendance, and I wouldn’t miss a single one of them. With her awkward banter, jokes about her band, and humorous tour stories, she has a stage presence that matches no other artist; she makes the audience feel as if they are each her very best friend. In the beginning of her career, she would often play solo, sometimes with only an acoustic guitar, but in recent years, a full band has backed her, giving her an extra edge in her live performances. Weiss’ perfect take on pop punk is epitomized through tracks like “I Was an Island,” “Nothing Left,” “Making it Up,” and “One Way Love,” some of which will be on her upcoming LP Say What You Mean. Songs filled with all kinds of “feelings,” as Weiss describes them, moved the crowd in an all-too-relatable sense. Only robots wouldn’t relate to an Allison Weiss jam and dance along.

Side note: Before Allison Weiss took the stage, I stopped by her merch table to say hello. She informed me that a girl had stalked me to the show by way of my Tumblr. If anyone has any clues to how this came about, feel free to send me a message over there. kthxbai

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