Paramore Review - 15th November 2010

Paramore are a pop-rock quintet from Nashville, Tennessee, whom have just played one of the biggest gigs in their lives - a sold out gig at London's o2 arena - and have recieved platinum status in the UK on their recent album.

On the 15th November, I went to their second gig at the o2 arena to discover how comanding the band can be in a major arena compared to the small venues they had performed in less than a year ago.

As i entered the arena, looking around you can see a certain dedication to the band, as an array of fans surrounded me with hair and fashion styles which have been inspired by the lead singer, resulting in brightly dyed hair everywhere you turn. Another thing i noticed was how vastly different each fan was to the next, from the stereotypical emo kid to the tough guy in his late teens to the ordinary middle-aged women, who were all connected in their love for this style of music.

The support acts themselves showed a cross-over within the genres. With Fun having a more indie-edge to their sound, whom although appeared quite a high standard band for their genre, they had very little connection with the audience or stage presence, one reason for this being that their performance showed very little energy or passion, with a slow tempo continuing throughout the set, only really having a short-lived moment of the audiences attention whilst playing a cover of 'Radio Ga Ga'.

 In comparison B.o.B. connected with the crowd surprisingly well, and created a strong energy within the arena which followed on throughout the night. Its a rare sight to see a rapper opening up for a rock concert, and an even rarer sight to see a group of rock fans take so well to rap music. Although you cannot avoid agreeing that BoB's main style is rap, the background music seems to be rather heavy, giving the songs a rock edge to them.

When Hayley Williams first appeared on stage in a duffel coat and bright pink hair, there was a strong vibe pulsing through the arena, as the crowd joined the two artists in a collaborative sing along with the track "airplanes". At the end of the song we see a sign of affection between the two, before a huge applause whilst Hayley bows and exits the stage, this signify's the end of BoB's set.

Paramore's set begins with a curtain falling and the introduction of 'Ignorance', the song is sung with the fierce and powerful vocals of which the lyrics deserve, with Williams spitting out the words "Ignorance is your new best friend" with strong emotion, coinciding with the forceful vocals, there is a fast, vigorous thrash of drums and a certain urgency in the guitar rhythm, sending the audience into an excited frenzy. This first song shows the passion within the musicians which everyone has been eagerly awaiting to see, and this passion can be seen mirrored through every fan in the arena that night.

The next song up is 'Feeling Sorry', another song with vicious lyrics and a passionate vocal/musical style, followed up by yet another fast paced single 'Thats What You Get.'
The start of the set is perfect for moshing, and simply just rocking out, the force of the audience so high, that Williams has to warn the fans to look after one another, as a vast number of people get pulled out of the pit.

Eventually the tempo starts to slow down with a four acoustic songs set out on a sofa, which makes you feel as if you're at a coffee shop playing rather than a huge arena. Hayley goes on to state that “there will never be a time when music isn’t there to support you, so please continue to support music,” and in this moment we forget that we are just one in twenty thousand, and feel as if she is directly speaking to every single one of us as an individual.

Throughout the next half hour emotions are flying high. The final song begins, and the crowd is encouraged to wave lighters in the air, creating a visually beautiful setting around the arena to go with the calm, peaceful music and vocals of "The Only Exception" ending on a peaceful, moving note.

When the band re-enter the stage for an encore of two songs; Brick by Boring Brick & Misery Business, they set a high pace once more, bringing BoB back on stage for the latter song so that we could wish him a happy birthday and hear a rare collaboration between BoB and Hayley halfway through Misery Business. At the end of the song, all performers are back on stage for a final goodbye, leaving the crowd buzzing with the excitement of what they had just experienced.

By the end of this gig I found myself feeling a stronger love towards Paramore and BoB than i ever had before, and found that although this were the roughest crowd i have encountered, i understood the reason for this, because the connection between the musicians, the music and the crowd is so great that each person there that night felt a personal connection to not only the music, but the band themselves and one another.
This was a truly great night, and I found the night far more intense and energetic than any other gig i have ever been to, including other paramore gigs. This is a band made to conquer huge venues!