Imagine your two favorite bands touring together. Now imagine finding out that they’re going to kick off the tour in your state. Finally, imagine being in the front row of seats in the middle section. Yeah, I’m that good.
As a long time Paramore and Tegan and Sara fan, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I received the email announcing this tour.
You know how on all those old-school MySpace surveys, some of the questions would ask, “What would be your dream tour line-up?” Well, Tegan and Sara and Paramore always made that list. The idea of this tour made me swoon. I had no idea what my reaction would be when I saw them live. I definitely didn’t think I would cry as much as I did. (Seriously, I cried).
Unfortunately for the first two bands, I wasn’t a huge fan. Kaddawatha wasn’t that bad. I just thought that their choreographed finger-points and head-banging was a little too cheesy. I also didn’t get to see the whole set because I didn’t realize how long the line would be to get into the arena (I haven’t been to an arena tour since Aaron Carter and the A-Teens came to town…when I was 10 or 11). Also, I spent most of their set freaking out over our seats (which were right behind the pit) because I thought we were in the 10th row of seats behind the pit. That’s the first time I cried. There were four occasions. Just wait.
I’m also not a very big New Found Glory fan. Actually, that’s putting it lightly. I don’t like them at all. It’s just not my thing. Also, I’m kind of a hater on Chad Gilbert (no offense, Hayley). However, they were a semi-crowd-pleaser. By semi, I mean, you could tell who was a fan of the band. Their fans were standing up, dancing and screaming the words to their songs. Chad even asked their “biggest fan” to come up on stage. He gained a little respect in my book because you could totally tell that it made that kid’s night.
Up next was Tegan and Sara. They, smartly, opened with the short-time-MTV-hit, “The Con.” They continued through their set, allowing for some of their humorous banter (one of my favorite things about their live sets). This was my first time seeing the Canadian twins live, so I was ecstatic, especially when they played my favorite songs, “The Ocean” and “Speak Slow.” When they played “Nineteen,” a song off of the successful album The Con, I cried (for the second time). It’s such a beautifully sad song, and live, it was unbelievable. The twins are extremely talented and very well polished, and it showed during their performance. They ended the set with the catchy and fast-paced “Hop a Plane,” leaving all the fans ready for the headlining act.
Finally, Paramore was about to take the stage. I could literally feel the excitement from everyone in the audience surging through the amphitheater (which was a beautiful new venue, by the way). The intro was awesome, and the black sheet that showed the band members’ silhouettes was pretty cool too. For those who don’t want to know the set list, don’t read on. I’m about to do a semi-song-by-song review.
Paramore opened with “Misery Business,” which I thought was kind of cliche, but I still love the song and the performance. I don’t really like it when bands open with their most popular song. I would have much rather heard them open with something like “Playing God” (which I’ve still yet to see live. Darn it.)
Then they played “Born for This,” which I had never seen live before, but I have the live version off of The Final Riot!. It was amazing. Next, they played “Ignorance,” which, as always, was a spectacular performance. When the song started, light bulbs dropped on strings from the ceiling and swung throughout the entire song. It was a nice touch.
Next, they played “Feeling Sorry,” “That’s What You Get” and “crushcrushcrush.” The performances were amazing, naturally, but I don’t really have too much to say about them.
During the performance of “Pressure,” vocalist Hayley Williams let a fan come up and sing the bridge. Mistake. I mean, number one: it’s my favorite part of the whole song. Number two: the poor girl didn’t have a monitor, so she probably couldn’t hear anything, and number three: Hayley didn’t sing with her so it was just off-key. But Jeremy’s flip saved the day.
After performances of “Careful” and “The Only Exception” (which I cried during. For the third time.), Paramore sat down on a couch (that Williams apparently owns) to play three acoustic songs: “When It Rains,” “Where The Lines Overlap,” and “Misguided Ghosts.” I thought it was a nice touch to the set, and as Hayley pointed out, she could “hear [us] better.” It felt a lot more intimate even though we were in such a big arena.
To kick up the pace again, Paramore played their Twilight hit, “Decode,” which is a great song, but a little overrated because every 13-year-old Twilight fan likes Paramore just because of this song. Next, they played “Looking Up,” which was complimented by videos of each member of the band playing on each of the five panels set up on the stage. It was pretty cool.
Now, get ready for me to really gush. The entire set, after every song once it got quiet, I screamed “My Heart.” It’s my favorite song by them, and I’d never heard it live before. Hayley heard me pretty much every time because she kept smiling and looking out at the crowd. Finally, after “Looking Up,” I screamed it twice. After the second time, the drums started in, then the guitar, and then I was staring at my friends shocked and in tears. It was probably one of the best moments of my life, and definitely the best of the concert. “My Heart” is one of the best songs they’ve written (in my opinion) and it was such a treat to see it live.
Their encore consisted of “Let the Flames Begin,” with the intro the band wrote for a tour promoting RIOT! and the outro as well. They ended their set with “Brick by Boring Brick,” which is always pretty epic, considering the ending.
I know I’m kind of late getting this review out, but the tour isn’t over. If you have tickets to a future show, you have a lot to look forward to, and if they’re coming to a town near you, BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW. It’s an amazing experience and you won’t regret it.