Universal City Walk ended its summer concert series Monday, with performances by Echosmith and Macy’siHeartRadio Rising Star winner, The Summer Set.

It was a hot Labor Day Monday, but that did not stop the crowds from lining up early in the day. It was Universal’s final free concert of the summer and as showtime drew nearer, more and more people filled the city walk.

Newcomers, Echosmith opened the show with songs from their upcoming debut album, “Talking Dreams.” The band, made up of four siblings: Graham, Sydney, Noah, and Jamie Sierota, are almost completely unknown, but they have a stage presence that rivals the pros. The group managed to show maturity on stage that is absent in many of their musical peers, which is amazing considering they just signed with Warner Bros. Records a year ago. Their ages range from 14-20, but other than their young faces, you wouldn’t even know. Lead singer, Sydney has a voice very reminiscent of Haylee Williams from Paramore, but the band still manages to keep its distinct sound. The audience was feeding off the energy onstage and sang along to many songs, including “Cool Kids,” from theirdebut album.

The Summer Set continued the upbeat tone into their set. The band opened up with “Lightning In a Bottle” from their latest release, “Legendary.” Lead singer, Brian Dales, bounced around on stage in a bow tie throughout the entire 11 song set, never dropping anywhere under excited and happy. While front-man Brian’s energy was infectious, it’s hard to deny drummer Jess Bowen’s talent. Sitting behind four boys, Jess’s energy came through with every hit and proved that girls can drum just as well as any guy.

They performed songs from all of three of their albums, including “Someone Like You,” from their second album, “Everything’s Fine.” The Summer Set, composed of Brian, Jess Bowen on drums, John Gomez on guitar and piano, Stephen Gomez on bass, and Josh Montgomery on guitar, easily translated their album’s feel-good, high energy album into their live set. The audience sang along to every word of every single song, and one fan in particular even made a yellow umbrella sign in homage to the lyrics in the album’s title track, “I’ve spent too many nights watching ‘How I Met Your Mother’ alone. Now I’m searching for my yellow umbrella, hoping I’ll take her home.”

Fans who chose to spend their final days of summer watching The Summer Set (see what we did there) were treated to a couple of surprises. The group performed “The Way We Were” for the first time live. But before that, Brian invited his best friend, Alex Deleon of The Cab, to sing-a-long to “Young,” from their first full length album, “Love Like This,” which led to loud screams from the audience. The show felt like an energy drink buzz, in the best way possible, with every song delivering catchy hooks and choruses. The Summer Set finished off with one of their most well-known hits, “Chelsea.”

Set List:

Lightning in a Bottle

Rescue

Young

Someone Like You

The Way We Were

Someday

Jukebox (Life Goes On)

Boomerang

Maybe Tonight

Legendary

Chelsea

The Summer Set released their album their third studio album yesterday, April 16, titled “Legendary.” Yesterday the album reached #3 on the iTunes pop charts, and #9 on the overall iTunes chart. The album features the single “Boomerang,” which sold over 10,000 digital copies in its first week of release, as well as “Lightning in a Bottle” which we posted a few days ago.

The album is pop perfection. Most of the songs are about being young, and living life to be “Legendary.” And yes, this is a reference to Barney Stinson from “How I Met Your Mother,” which is evident in the last song on the album “Legendary” with the lyrics, “And I’ve spent too many nights watching ‘How I Met Your Mother’ alone, now I’m searching for my yellow umbrella.” Brian Dales also sings about being obsessed with Dawson’s Creek in the song “Jukebox,” confirming my obsession with him (2/3 of my favorite shows of all time). The music slows down a little bit with “Heart of the Floor” which features The Voice’s runner up, Dia Frampton. For some reason this song takes me back to 90s boy bands, in the best way possible (super catchy chorus, adorable lyrics, but subtly scandalous).

I can admit honestly that I see myself driving down PCH this summer, windows down, screaming these songs with my best friends. Well done, The Summer Set. I have so much respect for a band that sticks to their original sound, while still maintaining change and growth. Also, so happy they embraced the “pop” in their usually labeled “pop punk” sound, and made an album that’s fun.

The Summer Set is currently competing in the Macy’s iHeart Radio Rising Star contest, wich you can vote for here. The band also recently wrapped up their national headlining tour, but we be on the Vans Warped Tour this summer.

All the new music released the past few weeks has really reminded us that summer is just around the corner, and The Summer Set’s (see what we did there?) new song is no exception. The song, which will be on the band’s next album Legendary (out on April 16), talks about being young and crazy. The accompanying lyric video is full of sparklers, fireworks, laughing, and anything else that equals fun. Is it too soon to call this our summer anthem?