Paramore @ Manchester O2 Apollo, 18th June, 2017
It’s been two years since we’ve seen Paramore on the music scene and since then a lot has changed; members have left and old ones have come back but the fact remains, as Hayley would say “WE ARE PARAMORE” (No matter who’s in the band).
The venue was packed to capacity and everyone was ready and waiting for the Tennessee rockers to take to the stage. The lights went down and Zac enters the stage and gives everyone a wave from his drum riser followed by Taylor than Hayley. The band were silhouetted as they looked out on the fans in front of them before going into the opening track “ Told You So” from their new album “ After Laughter”.
From the start the set was fast paced and full of energy. The crowd were giving it there all back to the band, singing along at the tops of their lungs and as soon as the intro started for “decode” without any prompt, the room started to clap along; you could tell the people in the room were die hard Paramore fans and knew where and when to clap along and sing lines before Hayley even held the mic out to them.
Half way through Hayley took a moment to speak with the room she said, “ If you’re from somewhere else than don’t hate me but I love coming here, I love this city. In the face of anything you’re so damn strong and so inspiring”. The crowd erupted in cheers for what they heard before the band went into playing “ Hate To See Your Heart Break”.
They continued to plough through their set and as it was nearing to a close, Hayley once again had some words to share saying “ You never know what other people are going through, Music, Friendships, Faith never failed; being able to write or even listening to songs is a healthy escape like we’ve all escaped here tonight; It’s an honour and opportunity to escape, so I’ll say this on behalf of all of us, thank you for listening to our songs, at times we didn’t feel safe but the fans keep us safe they keep us going and we never take that for granted”.
Hayley then went on to mention that is was 10 years of Riot! (Paramore’s second album) she said to the crowd ” God! I’m getting old (only joking) before dedicating the song to a girl named “Ellen” who they met 10 years ago at a HMV signing”. Before dropping into Misery Business, which is a fan favourite from the record.
Now with only two songs left Hayley introduced Zac to come to front of stage so he could play once of his own songs. Zac said “ hey guys I hope you don’t mind if I play one of my own bands songs do you?” to which again cheers could be heard ringing out. Zac continued to say “ I Just want to thank My Band for letting My Band (Halfnoise) play a song tonight” and introduced the track “Scooby’s in the back” which was well received. Finally the band finished with their latest single from After Laughter “Hard Times”.
Paramore Setlist:
Told You So
That’s What You Get
Brick By Boring Brick
Still Into You
Caught In The Middle
Turn It Off + Outro
Decode
I Caught Myself
Hate To See You Heart Break
Fake Happy
Everywhere (Fleetwood Mac Cover)
Rose-Coloured Boy
Playing God
Ain’t It Fun
Misery Business
Forgiveness
Scooby’s In The Back (Halfnoise Cover)
Hard Times
Review and Photography: Sophie Jones