DNCE Plays Sold-Out Show in Baltimore
On Friday, Feb. 3, the band DNCE played a sold-out show at Baltimore Soundstage in Maryland. The band, which formed in 2015, is made up of four members: lead singer Joe Jonas, lead guitarist JinJoo Lee, bassist/keyboardist Cole Whittle, and drummer Jack Lawless.
Each member has their own musical backstory, but perhaps the most notable of the group is Jonas, who for years performed music with two of his brothers, Nick and Kevin Jonas. However, upon the Jonas Brothers’ breakup in 2013, Joe along with his brother Nick looked into other musical endeavors. Nick has chosen a solo career of his own while Joe came to form DNCE.
Jonas’s prior experience with his brothers not only gave him music-industry experience, but it helped him meet the members of his new band. Lee was the touring guitarist for Jordin Sparks when Sparks and the Jonas Brothers toured together, and Lawless was the former touring drummer of the Jonas Brothers. Then there is Whittle, who Jonas brought on after seeing his talent in the band Semi-Precious Weapons.
DNCE (which, according to the band, stands for the word it closely resembles: dance), released their debut Extended-Play (EP) “Swaay,” a month after debuting their most-known song so far, “Cake by the Ocean,” in 2015. They followed up the EP release by releasing their first full length album, self-titled “DNCE,” in 2016.
As a stop on their “DNCE in Concert” tour, the band played at Baltimore Soundstage with opening act The Skins. The Skins, from Brooklyn, N.Y., were the perfect opened for DNCE because of their high energy and spunk. They performed around six or seven songs before DNCE took the stage.
While DNCE has only one EP and one Long-Playing (LP), they made the most of what they have, performing hits such as “Body Moves” and “Good Day” to get the crowd into the show. They also performed brief covers intermixed with their songs, transitioning into “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls and “Black Beatles” by Rae Sremmurd at two different points in their set. The band also made sure to have neat stage effects, from smoke shooting upward to random bursts of confetti. One of the most notable moments was when they threw out fake money, with members of DNCE’s faces on it as opposed to presidents, during their song “Pay My Rent.” And of course, the show could not end until they performed the well-known “Cake by the Ocean,” which was the band’s closer.
The show was not one to miss, especially considering a band of radio-popularity being in such a small venue. It made the show even better as opposed to an arena or stadium show, with being that close to the band and seats not being in the way.
DNCE has a few more shows before they wrap up the tour. To check out the upcoming tour dates and for more information, go to www.dnce.com.