Paramore, You Me At Six @Festival Hall, Melbourne(23/02/2010)

Thu 25th Feb, 2010 in Gig Reviews

As Soundwave rolls into town for the Melbourne leg of the 2010 festival, with it comes an abundance of sidewaves. Taking centre stage at Festival Hall, were Paramore. Having shot into the spotlight following their second album Riot! and that Twilight song Decode, Paramore have well and truly found their feet as a band. Playing to an almost packed out Festival Hall, Melbourne were treated to one of the finest alternative pop punk shows in a long while.

Also on tour as a part of the Soundwave festival, close friends of Paramore, British band You Me At Six opened the nights show. There’s no way You Me At Six are just a regular support act, rather, they bound about the stage, heads banging like there is no tomorrow. They play songs from both albums, as well as an old EP track. Front man Josh Franceschi has great confidence in what he does, taking only a moment or two to turn Festival Hall’s floor area into an absolute mess of a mosh pit. But it’s when he asks, no, he demands for a circle pit to form in the centre that I can’t help but feel the confidence has gone to his head. In a pit filled with young girls, you can’t help but think things are going to get messy, and they kind of do.

As countless crowd surfers make their way to the front of the stage, You Me At Six continue to power through their set, with Playing the Blame Game and Trophy Eyes dedicated to Paramore. Finishing their set with Hold Me Down’s opening track, The Consequence, You Me At Six impressed and many punters will be sure to catch them when they return in September – an announcement made by Franceschi just before the conclusion of their set.

An intro to Brand New Eyes begins to play as the lights drop in Festival Hall, Paramore arrive on stage to thunderous applause and the screams of a female dominant audience. There are no signs of fiery redhead Hayley Williams for at least a minute, but when the pint sized redhead makes her appearance, the atmosphere is turned up to 11. Surprisingly, beginning with what could be deemed a final encore track, Williams opens the show with Ignorance, the crowd spinning into a frenzy as she leads Paramore into the night. The mosh pit intensifies with every note William’s hits, her phenomenal voice capturing the hearts of the crowd. After much speculation as to just ‘how good’ Ms Williams is, she easily lives up to the hype surrounding her, in looks, style, attitude and voice.

As crushcrushcrush continues the show, Williams is already pushing her vocals to the limit. She recently declined to speak in interviews in order to save her voice for the tour, and it seems to have paid off. That’s What You Get and Looking Up from Brand New Eyes are fine additions to the setlist, with Williams taking a breather to interact with the crowd. Declaring that they had only been to Australia once before, she surveys us to see who was at that first show. With 50% or so returning fans, Williams thanks the crowd, but then enquires as to how many of us actually bought a copy of Brand New Eyes. With almost all hands raised, she declares, “This song is for all you who haven’t bought our new album, it’s the opening track” before breaking into the long awaited Careful.

Riot! track Let The Flames Begin was a worthy addition to the setlist, once again Williams was raising her own vocal barriers. Just when you thought she had reached her pinnacle, she would out do herself yet again and amaze the audience with her vocal capabilities.

Slowing down the pace new single The Only Exception received a very positive reception from the crowd, the mosh dying down for a brief moment. Despite gaining critical and commercial success with Riot! and Brand New Eyes, Paramore actually had a smaller, first album titled All We Know Is Falling. Die hard Paramore fans were treated to not one, but two songs from this album. With tambourine in hand, Williams begins Never Let This Go, which is followed by Pressure.

Noticeably, lead guitarist Josh Farro was absent from the whole Australian tour. As Hayley happily explained, Farro is back home planning his wedding, and in his place, Justin York, the brother of recently appointed band member Taylor York is filling in for him. She thanked Justin for filling in and learning all of their songs at such short notice. At this point, the stage had been showered with gifts thrown by fans, including flags, shirts bracelets and even a jar of vegemite. Williams picked up the vegemite, trying it, and sharing it with the band. “Does it help you sing better?” she laughs, before declaring “Oh it’s horrible! I’m going to have that taste in my mouth for days!” laughing as For A Pessimist I’m Pretty Optimistic and Where The Lines Overlap lead the finale of the set.

Many attendees wondered whether or not that Twilight song Decode, would make an appearance in the set. The band have admitted Decode helped push Paramore into the spotlight, and granted, it’s an incredibly good song. But it’s even better when performed live. Williams shines as the first set ends, hitting all the high notes in Decode and leaving the crowd screaming for more, chants of ‘Paramore!’ filling Festival Hall.

As a pre recorded Misery Business loop leads the band back on stage, Paramore burst into the first of two encores. It’s no doubt a highlight of the night, and one we have all been waiting for. As the pit thrives under Williams hold, thrashing her mixed blonde and orange hair in a blur, it’s evident that this is Paramore at their prime for the night.

Before performing the final song for the night, Williams asks us, “Who is going to Soundwave?!” with cheers from the crowd. “This is just practice for Soundwave!” she declares with confidence, before concluding the night with the utterly fantastic Brick By Boring Brick.

Paramore live up to the hype and expectations so many stories and reviews have set. After reaching international success at such a young age, there’s no doubt that the future is only going to be brighter for Paramore. If you’re heading to any remaining Soundwave shows, you’re in for a treat; there is no doubt about it.

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