Paramore Live At The O2 Arena Review, London, 13th November 2010
The last time I saw Paramore live was at Brixton Academy some 2 1/2 years ago with New Found Glory. Whilst they were popular then (and put on a good show), it was hard to imagine the rise to seeming global superstardom that has happened to the band in the last 18 months or so. Through touring, an appearance on the Twilight soundtrack, the release of third album Brand New Eyes and appearances at major festivals all over the place (including Reading and Leeds were they were 2nd headliners under Blink 182), Paramores rise to the top has been unstoppable. As a result, they are currently on their biggest ever tour, playing arenas all across the UK, including the show I went to on Saturday - "Our biggest Paramore show ever", to quote Hayley Williams herself.
As a result of the Jubilee Line being completely closed this week (thank you very much Transport For London) the show's timetable was brought forward to make it easier for people to get home. The support lineup was not the most appealing thing on paper, so we chose to grab dinner in TGIs and take our time going into the arena proper. As it happens, we took our seats just as opening band "Fun" (yes that is their name), and shortly we were treated to (I use the expression very loosely) B.o.B and his posse (the only word for it, there was everything from backing singers to a full band to a DJ to anothe rapper). I have seen some dire support acts in my time, but this took the biscuit. It is exactly this kind of turgid crap that makes me avoid mainstream commercial music almost at all costs (the likes of Paramore and Linkin Park aside). It felt as if time had almost stopped, such was the agony of sitting through 45 minutes of B.o.B. Bobby Ray can sing, but what he was singing (and occasionally half assed rapping about) I couldn't care less. Even the cover of MGMT's Kids was awful. The throngs of teenage girls in attenance unfortunately loved it, everyone else who did not fit into that category did not. Predictably Hayley Williams appeared at the end of the set to put a positive spin on things with the fantastic Airplanes (which is a genuinely great pop song) but it would have been great to fast-forward the previous 40 minutes to get to this. Mercifully, it was over.
Thanks to the early timetable, we did not have too long to wait in-between acts and the lights went down about 8:20, slowly revealing the silhouttes of the Paramore members until the curtain dropped and they launched into lead single from Brand New Eyes, Ignorance. Hayley (who seemed to have grown about 3 inches from when she was on stage earlier with B.o.B despite not wearing discernably high boots or shoes) flew around the stage with seemingly limitless energy as did the boys which set the tone for large parts of the next 90 or so minutes.
Paramore: Crush Crush Crush For An Awful Lot Of People.
Playing bigger and bigger shows has clearly had an impact on Hayley Williams as she worked the crowd with the stage presence of a pop or rock veteran twice her age, demanding movement from everyone for "fast one" For A Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic and directing enormous singalongs to the likes of old Paramore hit Emergency from their first album All We Know is Falling. Decode from the Twilight soundtrack unsurprisingly received one of the loudest cheers of the night (though it is a very good song in its own right and not to be knocked just for being on the vampire soundtrack).
Possibly the most impressive and unexpected portion of the show was the mid-set accoustic session, where the band even got their own sofa. Hayley and Josh kicked things off with an impressive but low key version of Never Let This Go, before the full band got in on the action for a huge stripped down, singalong version of When It Rains ("written about the UK"). Hayley then spoke a bit about how lucky they are to be doing what they do and introduced Where The Lines Overlap before the sofa session was finished off with a fantastic rendition of Misguided Ghosts which was one of the best songs of the night.
Hayley returned to full crowd directing mode, saying how she wanted every single person on their feet at the biggest Paramore show ever. Well damned if the entire place didn't go off like a firework for Crush Crush Crush, the O2 went absolutely mental. The only thing I've seen compare to that crowd reaction was for Metallica at the Death Magnetic fan club release launch party show back in September 2008. The level of craziness continued from guitarists backflipping over each other through to Pressure and Looking Up before the O2 was lit up with lighters, phones, cameras and glowsticks in a way I've never seen any venue lit up as Paramore finished off the main bulk of their set with The Only Exception.
Paramore: Nothing Boring About This Performance.
They were not offstage long before returning for their high energy encore, Brick By Boring Brick going down a storm and then set closer Misery Business given some added power by a guest appearance from You Me At Six's Josh Franceschi. This brought the house down once again (one thinks You Me At Six would have been a much better choice for support than B.o.B after supporting Paramore on their last UK tour in 2009). and sent everyone home very happy.
The Full Paramore Setlist Was:
- Ignorance
- Feeling Sorry
- That's What You Get
- For A Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic
- Emergency
- Playing God
- Decode
- Never Let This Go (accoustic)
- When It Rains (accoustic)
- Where The Lines Overlap (accoustic)
- Misguided Ghosts (accoustic)
- Crushcrushcrush
- Pressure
- Looking Up
- The Only Exception
- =================================
- Brick By Boring Brick
- Misery business (with You Me At Six's Josh Franceschi)
I have seen some great shows at the O2, particularly from Metallica, Linkin Park and the recent Ozzfest, but Paramore were up there with the very best of them. The show was a 100% old fashioned good fun time, and everyone had a fantastic time, especially the band (it was hugely obvious by the grins on all their faces throughout the entire show). We learnt a few things: Hayley can now work a crowd with the best of them, and she can also headbang with the best of them too (yes there are a few headbanging moments in Paramore songs for those who think I'm talking drivel). A hugely entertaining show which left everyone wanting more, lets hope Paramore return very soon to provide it.
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paramore ;D