By Amy Lukac

Opinion Editor

On March 26 at the Sherman Theater on Main Street in Stroudsburg, MKTO as well as two other performers: DJ LEGIT and Ari Zizzo, projected an immense amount of energy from their instruments and vocals.

After doors opened at 7:00 PM, MKTO fans scurried to the front of the gate to assure themselves a great spot.

“We’re from Rhode Island! MKTO was at Penn State which was too far, so we drove six hours to see them here,” said the fans in the front of the line.

Once everyone filled in, DJ LEGIT set up his station and began spitting beats and remixes that were full of bass, and the audience instantly started to dance and jump up and down.

After about 40 minutes, DJ LEGIT left the stage. While the stage crew cleaned up, Joe Traglia, wearing an MKTO shirt and hailing from Scranton, said he was excited about seeing MKTO and that he had seen them one other time.

At 8:10 PM Ari Zizzo walked onto the stage with his acoustic guitar across his body. He introduced himself and added that he is a freshman in college in New York.

The aspiring artist covered “Your Body Is a Wonderland” by John Mayer, and the girls in the audience didn’t hide their swooning well.

After the cover, Zizzo performed a song about Pi Day, which he wrote for a class project last year.

Next, he performed another original song called, “Breathing Under Water,” which he informed the audience after the song ended, is on YouTube.

Zizzo’s last two songs were covers by two very well known bands: One Direction and 5 Seconds Of Summer, or, 5SOS.

Zizzo’s last song “She Looks So Perfect” by 5SOS left the audience pumped up and ready for MKTO to finally hit the stage.

Finally, what the audience had all been waiting for happened. At 9:10 PM MKTO came onto the stage and the fans started to scream.

Tony Oller wore khaki pants and a black long-sleeved shirt, and Malcolm Kelley rocked black jeans, a grey zip-up hoodie, and a black snapback hat that read, Grade A, on the front.

The music started, and the duo opened the show with a song off of their recent album, “Could Be Me.”

The audience sang along loudly and danced to the beat.

After a short music break which Oller and Kelley danced to, they performed a brand new song, “Afraid of the Dark” in anticipation for their next album.

“American Dream” was the next song on the set list, which is a very popular, up-beat song off of their recent album.

The “nah-nah-nahs” didn’t only come from the microphones, but from everyone in the venue.

Following “American Dream,” MKTO performed “No More Second Chances,” which slowed the tempo down a little.

MKTO fans couldn’t contain their excitement when they found out that the next song they were going to sing was another new single called, “Monaco.”

After their new song, Oller and Kelley grabbed drumsticks and played on the set of drums that were placed right in front of the stage.

The two drummed until the music for their next song, “Heartbreak Holiday,” started to play. This slowed things down once again, as well as showed Oller’s smooth and unique voice.

After the emotional break of “Heartbreak Holiday,” MKTO showed off their new single “Bad Girls” that will be coming out on iTunes in April.

“Bad Girls” contained a little bit of a different sound, and allowed both Oller and Kelley to showcase their talents.

Many artists today tend to perform a cover or two within their set list. MKTO covered “FourFiveSeconds” by Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney. The fans instantly transitioned their iPhones and Droids to video mode and sang along.

The next song they covered was “Runaround Sue” by 1960’s artist, Dion DiMucci. A few surrounding fans said that it was, “random, but fun.”

“Goodbye Song” blasted from the giant black speakers around the stage after MKTO came back from the 60’s. The fans belted every word and danced until the very last note.

Fans stopped dancing for about a second, then continued to jump and groove when the duo began to perform “Thank You,” another very well known song off of their recent album.

During “Thank You,” Oller and Kelley walked towards the back of the stage and picked up a water bottle each. They made their way to the front of the stage and started to squeeze out water onto the crowd.

The second to last song, “Just Imagine It,” encouraged fans to put their phones on the flashlight setting and sway to the music while taking in the new lyrics.

There’s no way to end an MKTO concert without the song “Classic.”

“Classic” was their first hit that went double platinum, and always gets everyone off their feet.

The fans knew this was the last song, so they danced, sang, and seemed to use their last few minutes like they were the last of their lives.

Email Amy at:

alukac@live.esu.edu