In July 2019, The Marias blessed the nation’s capital with one of the most memorable shows at Union Stage.

The Marias’ chill and fun energy was refreshing, and they felt very authentic as a band. They weren’t going wild or doing too much, but they managed to keep just the right excitement throughout the show. They gave us a little bit of everything, from mellow head-bobbing beats, to slow and emotional, to getting us to dance.

Maria, the lead singer, swayed her body side to side and asked the crowd to dance along. Before the band performed one of their more popular tracks, “Ruthless”, they asked us if we wanted to start dancing and to introduce ourselves to the person next to us because most likely we’d be bumping into each other. Although the show had already been great before this, this set the tone for the rest of the night. The energy felt more communal and started to feel more like a party by The Marias rather than just a crowd watching performers.

There were several memorable moments of the performance, but one of them was their rendition of Britney Spears’ iconic 90s classic “…Baby One More Time.” Maria asked everyone to sing at the top of their lungs, and I was so impressed by how many kids knew all the lyrics, even though the song was older than them.

My personal highlight of the show was when the band introduced their second act. When the drummer, Josh Conway, came back on stage, the crowd was screaming and cheering. The drummer was gracious for how passionate the fans were, but he said how overwhelming it was and asked the crowd if they could give one solid, chill: “Yeahhhh.” When the crowd actually did that, he was surprised and said it never happens like that.

A girl extended her arm with her journal right after, and Josh happily signed it. He then asked if we wanted to play a game. Of course, the crowd cheered yes, and then Conway said, “Now it’s time to get funky. Take it back now, y’all.” And when he said this, we all went nuts because we knew exactly what he was doing.

Conway had us doing the cha-cha slide. The climactic part, though, was when he said, “EVERYBODY CLAP YOUR HANDS!” We all clapped the iconic beat, and that’s when The Marias came back on stage.

For their encore, they performed “Clueless,” the hit from their album, Superclean Vol. II.

However, instead of performing the studio version, Maria sang an a cappella version of the hook slower than usual and had the crowd sing along. After that, it was quiet for a second, and then the drums kicked in, and the rest of the band joined in with the regular upbeat version of the song.

Everyone was dancing and vibing when Maria suddenly reached out her arm to a fan and told him, “I saw you dancing well. Come on up here!” You could feel the shock radiating from the crowd, wishing she would do that for them. Maria didn’t stop at one, though; she started picking up more people from the crowd to join her onstage and dance. Eventually, there were about six people on stage, and crowd members just took it upon themselves to climb up on stage and dance, take photos, and/or video.

This was the most fun concert I attended all summer. Although The Marias are presently one of my top favorite artists, I believe most anybody would agree. If you’ve been in the mood to experience something chill, The Marias are the band to see. With their easy-going, sweet tunes, you won’t want to miss them!