Valley likes Boys Like Girls

A staggering number of people showed some love for the OP tour featuring headliner Boys Like Girls, and support bands Cobra Starship, The Maine, A Rocket to the Moon and Versa Emerge on Friday night at Las Palmas Race Park in Mission. In fact, with more than 2,300 fans at the show it was the biggest turn-out the bands had seen since the tour began.

The Maine and Versa Emerge have made stops in the Rio Grande Valley before, so for some of the crowd, it was a chance to check out the merch tables.

Boys Like Girls were technically the headliners, but the audience seemed to be more interested in Cobra Starship, the band who has a Gossip Girl singing on their latest album, Hot Mess.

"Good Girls Go Bad" is likely the electronic dance pop band's biggest song, which features Leighton Meester, though Cobra first gained attention with the song "Snakes on a Plane," for the cult hit movie starring Samuel L. Jackson.

By the end of Cobra's set, Las Palmas had become a very cold, outdoor dance floor. Teens came pouring out of the crowd, flushed and out of breath, but exhilarated.

When Boys Like Girls took the stage it was clear several people were there just for Cobra or one of the other opening acts - the crowd was much smaller. Of course, it could've been that those who left early were getting a head start over to Volta in McAllen where Gabe Saporta of Cobra Starship was deejaying for the official after party.

The dwindling crowd didn't seem to faze the punk-pop quartet who opened with a cover of The Black Eyed Peas' "I Got a Feeling." The dance party continued as Boys Like Girls played some of its biggest hits like "The Great Escape," "Hero/Heroine" and the band's highest chart-topper so far, "Love Drunk."

As more people walked toward the packed parking lot, they continued singing along with Boys Like Girls, but they were determined to beat traffic to the after party.