Sunday, December 27, 2009

sing us a song, and we'll sing it back to you

So, this has been a long time coming – my review of the Paramore (w/ You Me At Six) gig at Wembley. This was a gig that I had been looking forward to for so long, and there is a sense of not fully realising what it is that I have been lucky enough to experience, of not knowing that that experience is now gone.

Now, now every children was the only other support band (apart from YMAS) worth my early arrival. Paper Route were...simply shit. Well, they had some good sounds, but it was so incredibly boring that after a while I literally wanted to go out for a break. But, I didn't.

You Me At Six came on stage and gave a set which, I have to say, was much too short! It just went, like that; I clearly did not enjoy it enough while it lasted. They played more new songs than old: Kiss and Tell, The Consequence, If I Were In Your Shoes, Save It For the Bedroom, Jealous Minds Think Alike, Finders Keepers. Did they play Underdog? Can't remember. Oh, and Always Attract, with a special guest appearance from Elissa Franceschi (it's actually not that special – I'm pretty sure she appeared at Reading too...). Anyway, it was great, but not that great, I think. In my diary, I wrote 'they were as good as they can get', i.e. not amazing. You Me At Six have seriously dropped in my esteem, probably since they got big. Mainly because their sound has majorly mainstreamised (phwoar, I invent words by the day) for the worse. I won't go on about how I prefer 'raw' sound again. Haha, I'm about to undermine and contradict all that I've said so far, but whatever, I loved them during that set, and still love them as I now listen to 'Underdog'.


'Underdog' - You Me At Six [first play on BBC Radio 1]


'Save it For The Bedroom' - YMAS

Paramore came on stage relatively quickly, considering they're the next big thing and I expected them to take at least half an hour. I guess they've really not let fame get to their heads. Josh Farro came on stage, closely followed by Hayley, opening with... I can't quite remember. Anyway I know that Ignorance was next and that's enough. The tracks not from 'brand new eyes' were Pressure, That's What You Get, Crushcrushcrush, I Caught Myself, Misery Business, Decode, My Heart. One track that they didn't play from their album was 'All I wanted', which I was SO upset about. I can't imagine what that would have made me feel, listening and watching them play such an epic song. Sob. I'll put it up here for you to see what it is I missed. Check out 2:30 onwards. Spine-chilling.


'All I Wanted' - Paramore


'Crushcrushcrush' - Paramore



'My Heart (live)' - Paramore
My favourite live track by them

What made me enjoy their set apart from the music has to be Hayley's interaction with the crowd. You guys who weren't there really have no idea what Paramore's idea of crowd interaction is. Get this: Hayley started talking about a letter that Josh Farro (the guitarist, and also her ex (?)) had received, from (username) liam1. They asked 'Is liam1 here?' And some other girl's name which I don't remember. It took a little while for the two to come up on stage, and there was a variety of things which I was expecting, but definitely not what actually happened. Of all the things I was expecting (the two singing a song to Paramore about how awesome they are, or something) I was NOT expecting... a marriage proposal. That's right, liam1 proposed to his girlfriend. I'm so slow, when he went down on one knee it took me at least five seconds to get what he was doing and why the whole room erupted in screaming. But, when I got it, I screamed alright. While the girl hugged and kissed Liam (I assume that's his name), Hayley gently took the microphone from Liam's hand, saying 'I'm guessing that's a 'yes'', and dedicated the next song to them. That's 'The Only Exception', which I've got here for you.


'The Only Exception' - Paramore

Which song did I most enjoy? 'Misguided Ghosts', which they performed as part of their encore. Its being acoustic automatically puts it in 'tear-jerker' category, and though my tears were not jerked, I did feel something inside of me stirring and my heart going kaboom-kaboom-kaboom for Paramore. I know, I'm cringey, but I'm just saying, is all. If Paramore can make me say the cringiest of things, doesn't that mean something about their ability to move people to EXPRESS themselves? Hah, what bullshit, I'm just cringey anyway.


'Misguided Ghosts' - Paramore

Hayley was so fit that night, even a straightie like me cannot deny it. They were all on form, which I think is something you can expect from Paramore. You know, not letting fame get to their head, keeping their heads focused on the what they're doing, doing it for the music. They went out on the stage to enjoy themselves, that's undeniable, but also to share the night with a few thousand of their fans. And you can tell, as well, that even though they're guaranteed big bucks (big for a band like them, anyway) they still put their everything into those gigs and don't take them for granted. Concluding note to self and to you readers: Paramore will not disappoint. So I'm defs gonna see them next time they're in town.

And I'm gonna say it. Paramore are my perfect band. Call me emo, call me fangirl, call me teenage... but you're just an old, boring, lifeless soul who listens to... what do you listen to? Ok I was just about to say something but I'll restrain myself, because I totally respect your music. Yeah, totally.

:P love you really.

xxxx

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