Boys like girls and girls like pop music, and this time-tested logic was certainly proven true at the Tabernacle Sunday night as pop sensation Boys Like Girls took the stage to the sounds of hundreds of shrieking fans.

Boys Like Girls is headlining the OP Presents tour this fall, riding on the wave of the successful release of their newest album, Love Drunk, which debuted in September.

The night began with two up-and-coming bands, Rocket to the Moon and the Maine from the Fueled By Ramen record label. The Maine played a cover of the Def Leddard classic “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” Unfortunately, most members of the audience were not familiar enough with the original hair-metal version to fully appreciate the pop-punk version of the song, but it amped up the crowd nonetheless.

The third billed opening act, Cobra Starship, brought enormous amounts of energy to the venue as the group played its hits “Guilty Pleasure” and “Good Girls Go Bad,” the latter of which did not suffer from the loss of “Gossip Girl” star Leighton Meester, who is usually featured on the track. The crowd surged forward relentlessly and one fan threw her bra on stage. Singer Gabe Saporta held it up to his own chest and asked, “Do you think this is my cup size?”

The real stars of the night, though, were Boys Like Girls. The band launched on stage and into its current radio hit, “Love Drunk.” It quickly became apparent that the audience had been waiting for that exact moment. Girls shrieked and as everyone bobbed with the music so forcefully, the floor began to sag with them, although no one seemed alarmed. Fans raised their hands to reach for the stage or form heart symbols as many mouthed the worlds, “I love you!” over and over again to lead singer Martin Johnson.

Johnson and his bandmates’ image contrasted starkly with their music. They sang lyrics so sweet they could rot your teeth, but at the same time, wore tattered old punk rock shirts and drank whiskey straight from the bottle.

But their fans were not daunted. As the band cranked out all its old favorites including “Dance Hall Drug” and power balled “Thunder,” the crowd pressed tighter and tighter against the barriers until security guards had to lift many girls out for their own safety.

Toward the end of the night, the band ran out of picks, but when the guys re-emerged for their encore, they brought down the house with their 2007 hit, “Great Escape.” Johnson brought nearly half the crowd on stage with him and dove into the teeming mass left on the floor like some sort of rock god. He sang passionately even while floundering for support after over-estimating the strength of the crowd.

But when he got back to his stage, Johnson danced among his adoring fans and got everyone in the crowd jumping with the sheer joy of an audience simply being in love with a band. And they certainly were. When they left the show, although many parents were there to pick them up, everyone dreamed of a great escape of their own with the boys of Boys Like Girls.

Contact Lara Kesler.