All
Time Low seem to tour the UK around this time
every year, and every time they do, it sells out,
so after the band leaving their big label last
year is tonight any different? The answer is,
nope, tonight sold out very quickly and it just
shows that they don’t need a label to carry
on with what they do, as they’re still getting
the numbers, let’s just hope the show will
be as good as before.
After queuing for what seemed like an age to get
in, I enter into the boiling main room of the
academy, and I arrive not a moment too soon as
the first band are about to walk on stage, the
amazing…..
Lower
Than Atlantis, if you didn't know, are a punk/rock/indie
band from Watford, they’re not a band I
would have put on the same bill as All Time Low
but they do a great job of working the crowd.
They start by blasting straight into single Love
Someone Else before continuing on quite a long
set list including If The World Was To End, Miles
Away and Deadliest Catch. They sound great, blasting
out into the main academy, the grungy guitar sound
the integral hi hats overlaying with singer Mike
Duce's husky vocals. The crowd lap them up, which
as I've said before isn’t too difficult
when it's a room of screaming 15 year old girls,
but they do well and even have pockets of the
crowd singing along in places. Duce tells the
crowd, how the band all used to have day jobs
and not to give up on their dreams for if they
all had, then they'd still be delivering Chinese
food and labouring. They rap up there set list
and leave the crowd waiting in anticipation for
the main act....
All
Time Low, who are obviously a pop punk band from
Baltimore USA, a city you might be more familiar
with now as they won the super bowl a few weeks
ago. They take to the stage after a good wait,
due to their big stage set up, which includes
massive lights across the back of the stage, a
drum high rise and the bands initials in huge
letters above the stage. But this 4 piece come
running out to Somewhere In Neverland, and it’s
apparent that the band have a few extra members
to help get there live sound over(a bit like Green
Day do), hidden behind some lighting rigs is a
backing vocalist and a guitarist who do help the
band, as they sound awesome! People might say
they’re a throw away band that’s only
for kids, but they have some great songs in their
back catalogue,
that are fun, bouncy and great to sing along with.
Their setlist doesn’t disappoint with a
good mix of old and new songs, starting with Forget
About It, For Baltimore, Stella, Damned If I Do
Ya(Damned If I Don’t), Lost In Stereo and
Time-Bomb. They add to this their great energy,
as they bounce about the stage, running up and
down, jumping off things, sitting on amps and
collecting mountains of bra’s that the crowd
throw up on stage.
They have good banter to go along with the energy
and in between songs they tell the crowd things
like “Today I shaved my pubes for all of
you”, “Wow my face is on a durex box(after
finding it on stage), I think I should sue someone”,
whilst Rian Dawson tunes up his bass, Jack Barakat
makes a joke about how the noise he’s making
sounds like the noise his penis makes when he
cums and finally singer Alex Gaskarth tells the
crowd “my dicks like a cats tail, it swish’s
around and sometimes wakes me up and I get scared
of it”. This is very
childish banter, and considering the crowd is
made up of young girls it’s kind of inappropriate,
but the audience knows what the band are like,
and that’s why they enjoy them, they’re
cheeky and naughty and make them laugh. The crowd
respond to the banter with laughs and by throwing
lots of bra’s and notes to the band on stage.
It’s clear that the band are great live,
and that the sound, energy and banter come across
well. They finish their set and encore of The
Reckless And The Brave, Weightless and ending
with Dear Maria Count Me In. The crowd go away
in fits of tears and screams fully content with
tonight performance.
So when All Time Low are next in town, if you
fancy some fun pop punk with allot of passion
and charm, with the odd childish laugh thrown
in, then go and see them, you’ll really
enjoy the experience.
Lower Than Atlantis 3/5
All Time Low 4/5
Review By James Daly
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