Plain White T’s lead singer Tom Higgenson is excited to get back to Tucson, where he and his Chicago pop-rock band join the lineup of the inaugural My 92.9 Oro Valley Music Festival on Sunday, Sept. 13.
“That will be a fun show,” he said during a phone call last week. “As long as there are people out there with smiles on their faces, we’re going to have fun.”
Here’s what we can expect from their show.
The hits and then some: “You’re going to get ‘Hey There Delilah,’ ‘1,2,3,4,’ ‘Rhythm of Love.’ Some of the newer singles — ‘Pause,’ ‘Should’ve Gone to Bed.’
“But I think people who haven’t seen the band live before, they may only know us by those radio songs, which are a little bit more mellow and low-key, kind of acoustic love songs. But a lot of our music is more kind of pop rock.
“We kind of grew up in the pop punk scene of Chicago so we’ve always had a little bit of an edge to our music. ... The live show has a lot of energy that people may not expect just based on some of our big songs.”
Punk is not a genre, it’s an attitude: “With this new album we put out, ‘American Nights,’ we put it out independently (in March). We’re off all labels and doing it ourselves now, all DIY, which is as punk rock as it gets. So I think the mentality of the band is definitely punk rock right now, even if the songs don’t necessarily reflect that.”
Creating a moment: “For awhile, we went on stage and played as if we were presenting the album live. And I think the more that we play and the better we get as a live band, you kind of realize that people aren’t coming here to listen to the album. They are coming here to be part of the show. ... So more and more we’re just trying to get the crowd singing and get them more involved in the show. Make each night a moment, not just ‘Oh, here’s another show. We’re going to play these songs and get off stage.’”
Last show before a break: “That show will be pretty fun. It is kind of the end of this little run of shows that we’re doing so it’s going to be a good one. We’re going to let it all hang out, and you can take that however you want to take that.”
