The Aces Concert Review: A Night to Break and Mend Hearts

On Tuesday, Dec. 7, hundreds of leather-decked teens and twenty-somethings flocked to the Paradise Rock Club in Boston to dance and scream their hearts out to a simultaneously upbeat and gut-wrenching setlist performed by the Utah-based band the Aces.

The concert was their first headlining show in Boston and comes a little over a year after “Under My Influence,” their second album released during the pandemic in the summer of 2020. With fellow all-girl bands SAWYER and The Beaches along for the ride, the Aces — made up of lead singer and guitarist Cristal Ramirez, drummer Alissa Ramirez, guitarist Katie Henderson, and bassist McKenna Petty — put on an unforgettable show.

Even while packing their entire sophomore album and a few other songs into their set, the band still made time to connect and engage with the crowd, eliciting a laugh or a sigh from their audience with ease. In one interaction, Cristal Ramirez spoke about a particularly painful breakup and asked the audience about their own breakups or romantic slights. One audience member had been stood up that very show, causing the band to cry out in outrage and fellow audience members to yell curse words at said ditcher. They followed this rage with an appropriately longing rendition of “Cruel,” hearts collectively breaking to Ramirez’s lyrics “Why’d I have to love something bad, can’t you go and hurt someone new?”

The chemistry among the Aces was incredibly evident throughout the show. By Courtesy of Divya Navani

Though the music was primarily sourced from “Under My Influence,” the Aces’ tracklist and overall portfolio were diverse enough to take the crowd through a rollercoaster of emotions. Songs like “My Phone Is Trying to Kill Me,” “Lost Angeles,” and 2021 single “Don’t Freak” each described various anxieties about attempting to find success in the industry, relationships with other people, or just intrusive thoughts — perfect representatives of the dance-pop genre. They appealed to all the lovers in the audience with picks like “Going Home” and “Zillionaire,” closing the first portion of the show with stand-out single “Daydream.” “801” and “Kelly” then spoke to some challenges the members faced being gay (3 of the 4 members identify as queer). “801” for example, details the struggles members of the band faced while growing up in a conservative and often repressive small town in Utah, while the titular “Kelly” is a woman that taunts and leads on the narrator of the song. The Aces’ enthusiastic storytelling behind each song revealed just how much they connect with their own music, highlighting their authenticity and vulnerability.

The members’ chemistry was evident — from the way they laughed with each other in between songs to the way their voices and instruments blended harmoniously without overshadowing each other. It was the band’s familiarity with each other, informed by years of friendship from high school into their early twenties, that made their performances so compelling. The intimacy of Paradise’s venue worked to their advantage, facilitating their interactions with the audience and allowing the music to saturate the space.

The Aces elected to close the show with an encore consisting of two fan-favorites from their debut, “Waiting for You” and “Stuck.” While “Waiting for You” briefly mellowed the audience out, “Stuck” had the room pulsating with energy, an unforgettable way to end the night.

—Staff writer Abigail A. Golden can be reached at abigail.golden@thecrimson.com.