For those that may not know Paramore are a band originating from Tennessee, USA. With their first album released in 2005 they sky rocketed into stardom with songs like ‘Pressure’ from their first album All We Know Is Falling, ‘Misery Business’ from the second album Riot!, ‘Brick By Boring Brick’ from Brand New Eyes and now with singles like ‘Still Into You’ and ‘Now’ from their latest self titled album Paramore they seem to be going from strength to strength. So when me and the mrs saw they were touring we booked our tickets and marked the calendar.
The gig was at the MEN, somewhere, surprisingly, that I had never been before! So before we headed round we hit Hark Rock Cafe just around the corner at the Printworks which must have been the best choice to make and we had a Paramore song on every 10 minutes and a chocolate brownie the size of my head!
We then went over to the arena to try and find my fiancee, Jen’s, little brother who was also joining us. After a very confusing 20mins we finally met up.
Now, I dont know if you’ve ever been to the MEN,*Sorry Phones 4 U arena* but when you walk into the actual seating area it’s pretty epic. The energy you get for a gig like this is pretty hard to match! The first support act were on and were pretty good although we missed their names. The second act was Charli XCX which the crowd was casually enjoying until she came out with her recent hit ‘I Love It’ which right now is on 50% of all television advertising. The audience went crazy and the whole room was jumping… a great sign of what was to come.
As many of you may know the best part of a live show is curtain drop which they did not disappoint with. Kicking straight into their upbeat style and with no lack of energy which Hayley Williams (Lead singer) and the rest of the band kept up for the whole show – An impressive feat! They went thorough every song you would expect they would with classic hits from their old albums and what I had come to know as the best form their new one. ‘Fast in my car’, ‘Now’ and ‘Ain’t it fun’ were just a few selections from their latest.
When performing ‘Only Exception‘ from the album ‘Brand New Eyes‘ we all got our phones out and lights on, it seems the day of the lighter is dead. As you can see from the photo it was pretty amazing although it does not do it justice. Hayley was on piano and with a close up of her on the big screens she did genuinely seemed moved at the sight. Throughout the show she did made a few references to how important this show was for them.
It has only been a few years since the band went through a tough time and saw 2 key members leave over internal disputes. They had a rough ride but still came back and with the song ‘Last Hope‘ the band created a track that kept them together and hopeful that they could come out of it. Hayley explained that this song was significant to them and asked us to join in as much as possible. She again looked touched by the amount of crowd response.
Now on the new album Paramore there are ukulele sections. They’re cool but we doubted they’d be done in an arena like this as it’s not something that would fill the space very well…. but they pulled it off! Using a spotlight and flowing right on the end on the previous song they replicated the album beautifully and they were so tight in their playing it was hard to tell the difference sometimes. See the image above.
In the later half of the show in the middle of ‘Misery Business‘ the audience sang the bridge as Hayley held the mic to the crowd. At the end the music stopped and she compained someone was singing her lyrics (jokingly). This then went on to her “finding” the culprit and bringing her on stage. Now I cant even imagine the feeling but this girl then got the sing the rest of the song on stage with the band and boy did she do that, headbanging with the rest of them (see image above). It seemed apt that some of the lyrics she sang were “Just watch my wildest dreams come true”
As always the band ended on a high. The usual last song – cheering – encore situation happened and out they came to sing their latest hit ‘Still Into You’ where feminine and rock collide – I have never seem so many pastel colours used in a music video!! This was then teamed with ticker tape and a performance as energetic as when they entered the stage to finish off a very impressive, tight, emotive and fun gig.
If you like Paramore or even if you have never heard of them I would recommend going to a show as they are one of the best pop/rock bands around at the moment and who doesn’t love a rock chick!
To get a bit more inside scoop on them the mrs follows Hayley on instagram where there is loads of behind the scenes stuff!
Leave a Reply