Thursday, July 29, 2010

Paramore Review

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Paramore Review (Honda Civic Tour) – 27 July 2010 at the Toyota Presents Oakdale Theatre – Wallingford, CT
By Alexandra Remy


Twilight has been to thank for more bad than good, but in the case of Paramore, they’ve helped more than hurt. While the lot of the teenage populace runs frantic with “Team Jacob” and “Team Edward” propaganda, parents and the general sane media hordes fear for their lives on any night an installment to the series premieres on the big screen or on the bookshelves. For Paramore, though, Twilight launched a roller coaster ride for the Tennessee youngsters, a ride that would lead the firecracker lead singer Hayley Williams to friendships with the likes of Taylor Swift and Katy Perry and her loyal band mates (lead guitarist Josh Farro, drummer Zac Farro, guitarist Taylor York, bassist Jeremy Davis) to idols for the world’s female youth. So, without a doubt in Honda’s corporal minds, Paramore was commissioned to front the 2010 summer Honda Civic tour backed by ambiguous Swedish indie-pop group Kadawatha, power pop-punk legends New Found Glory, and radio friendly duo Tegan & Sara. And looking at the layout and advertisement plaguing the Oakdale Theatre on July 27, it seemed as though Honda pumped a lot of money into the deal.

Honda flyers were draped on walls every which way you turned and booths promoting environmental health and security and Honda vehicles (strangely, two non-Honda cars were perched in the center of the whole circus ring)ran rampant. Free Paramore airbrush tattoos were being scratched out left and right and fans scattered to and from the stage. Meet & Greet attendees (also known as the dedicated members of the band’s Fan Club) were admitted prior to even the early entry winners. A solid line of them crowded the barricade while the same commercials, go-green fun facts, and music videos chanted on repeat from the stage screen. The general admission standing space was bursting at the seams while the seated crowd filled to the top balcony, the upper seating completed only halfway. Despite the lack of a sold out status, it was obvious the arena was more than enthusiastic about Paramore’s appearance. The screaming and cheering never stopped, not even for a blissful second of silence.

Kadawatha flung themselves (literally) on stage to an eerie recording, all members decked out in handmade shirts adorned in colorful buttons and fabric. The band was synchronized in a fashion that was polished yet tactful. They knew when to point to the stars and, at the closing of the set following the lead singer going into a fit of flailing and water bottle chucking, when to collapse together in a perfect timing, all hitting the ground at once. Daniel Kadwatha, lead singer, was the last to hit the floor as a new but virtually the same arid recording played from the opening of the set. All was laid to rest as the drummer was the last to artfully collapse on his drum set. As the more mysterious band of the line-up, Kadawatha is a basically unknown band from the depths of Sweden, the only hint of their Scandinavian origins being in the bassist’s blonde hair and blue eyes, and can now recount the Honda Civic tour as their very first tour ever. Given the circumstances (being on their debut touring stint, in America, preparing the crowd for an act like Paramore), Kadawatha had to work hard to impress. And impress they did. The crowd gasped and gawked and 20 EP’s alone must have been swiped from the merchandise booth in the first two minutes following the band’s domino effect.

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Following up the Swedish outfit was legendary punk-pop quintet hailing from the springs of the Sunshine State, New Found Glory. Anyone alive in 2004 when Catalyst dropped was lucky enough to witness the band go supernova outside of its cult punk colleagues. “All Downhill From Here” was on the Mix CD’s of every thirteen year-old girl that year, further pronouncing New Found Glory as an immense presence in the Warped Tour similar community. The presence of the band was almost expected considering the fact that lead guitarist Chad Gilbert and Paramore’s front woman Hayley Williams have been a hot ticket for nearly two years, fans swooning over the cute punk idol couple. All relationships aside, seeing New Found Glory live its obvious these men have been at it for awhile. Constantly getting their fans involved throughout the show, even the most uninterested statues in the crowd eventually fell for the band, chanting whenever lead singer Jordan Pundik told them to and actively including themselves in the churning spectacle hardcore follows were forming in the center pit. The band charged from single to single, no member standing still long enough to get a high quality photo taken of them. Even during the Jewel cover “Kiss” the five Florida boys were racing from stage end to stage end. Instead of the much preferred subliminal methods, stagehands used handmade signs blatantly encouraging concert goers to purchase T-Shirts and announced at the closing of their set (“My Friends Over You”) that they would be holding a signing at a booth shortly thereafter.

From a tight position in the pit, it was obvious that no one budged, though, because the crowd closed in closer and closer. Next up: Tegan and Sara. Since their inception in the 90’s, the Twin couplet has released nine albums and has become quite the fixture in the indie New Wave body politic. While their set was longer than most edgy Paramore fans could take, their diehards came out of the woodwork for the night, screaming to songs and singing along as the proud few. Tegan and Sara sounded better than they could ever in the studio and managed to get chuckles out of the crowd, joking around about Facebook’s relationship to stalking Ex’s and how 30 was the new 60. Whereas New Found Glory took control over active crowd involvement and Kadawatha wallowed in the more obscure and artistic, Tegan and Sara commanded the humor and serenity of the night, preparing the generally young crowd for the excitable act that was expected to show them up.

After a solid 14 song set, Tegan and Sara transitioned into the band everyone had been waiting for since the February on sale date. Paramore’s inception in 2004 led to the Southerner’s debut All We Know Is Falling in 2005, a fresh take on love and life from a group still wet behind the ears. The band took to the road, blessing Warped Tour’s Shiragirl stage with a brand new female fronted collective. By 2007, Riot! was released to a starter single of “Misery Business” and a cohesive conglomerate of followers. Not long after the band took off with MTV hits and a fan base amounting to 2 million copies of Riot! sold in the United States alone, they began to land… crash land. Inner band tensions rose and the group made up of long term friends began to crack at its base. A tour was called off halfway through and time was put aside to try and heal all of the anger and grief occurring between the five friends. Soon enough, though, the band was back together taking all of their pain out on the 2009 studio release Brand New Eyes… with a nail rimmed baseball bat. Teeming with bitterness, memories, and pride, Brand New Eyes revealed a whole new maturity in Paramore never seen before. “Ignorance” blew up as the first single off the album, a stinging relationship song dripping in blood and acid, and made room for the equally dark “Brick By Boring Brick” to pick up the slack as the second single. Before Brand New Eyes even had the chance to breathe, “Decode” was clogging the airwaves providing the perfect playlist for all “vampire freaks” alike. As the leading theme for the starting Twilight series, Paramore picked up a fast momentum heading quickly towards stardom. Soon enough, everyone wanted a piece of them. B.o.B, North Carolina born rapper, flagged down Hayley Williams for current success “Airplanes” and the fawning keeps flowing in. Movie producers want the lead singer and crazed teenage fan girls want to take the rest of the band home for Christmas. Honda made a smart choice in choosing their line-up.

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Rocketing away with “Ignorance” as the flagship for the night, Paramore flew off into another brand new tune “Feeling Sorry” and into the more radio acquainted “That’s What You Get”. One of the more peculiar oddities to this show was the overt crowd excitement. As a rarity to most shows, each person sang to every song no matter how little known it may have been. It may have started off the stellar Riot! but “For A Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic” is miles away from the Top 40 outlet yet the whole room roared in a cacophony of a Paramore themed sing along. “Careful” seethed and fumed and extinguished in time for the famed love/hate “Decode” to be led in a completely different direction with Josh Farro and Hayley Williams flocking stage front for a Loretta Lynn ditty. While they pounded out a country aesthetic, stage crew set up a vintage living room set, complete with a wine red satin couch and illuminated box lamp. Instead of retiring the old acoustic, Josh Farro carried on over to the living room set where they group performed a throng of acoustics including “When It Rains” and “Misguided Ghosts”, the crowd never ceasing to sing each word. Williams herself was brought to claim that despite the fact that the tour was only several shows in, Connecticut was by far pulverizing the competition. They plowed through the set list with unyielding passion and ferocity, only rarely stopping to take it all in. With only a two song encore of “Brick By Boring Brick” and “Misery Business”, the stage was turned from a casual setup to a block party as a result of four fans (all pint sized females) being brought bride style onto the stage for the bridge and conclusion of the latter of the encore. One fan took command of Farro’s guitar solo, another was granted the task of the remaining vocals, and the other two were there to, well, be there. The fans did a terrific take on the song, all carrying on with candor unsuspected of the average fan up until the sad end when confetti blasters sent orange, red, and yellow paper bits whirling through the air. It looked as though Williams’ hair was raining down on the crowd in jumbo clumps. Paramore came to the stage unsure of what to expect and must have been pleasantly surprised by the sincerity carried in fans because Williams and outfit seemed to be feeding off the energy, using it to fuel their own. Connecticut has more than the Constitution and Charter Oak to brag about. The quant New England state can now gloat giving Paramore a run for their money… that and Nutmeg.

Set list:
1. Ignorance
2. Feeling Sorry
3. That's What You Get
4. For A Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic
5. Emergency
6. Playing God
7. Careful
8. Decode
9. You Ain't Woman Enough (acoustic) (Loretta Lynn cover)
10. When It Rains (acoustic)
11. Where The Lines Overlap (acoustic)
12. Misguided Ghosts (acoustic)
13. Let The Flames Begin
14. Crushcrushcrush
15. Pressure
16. Looking Up
17. The Only Exception
Encore:
18. Brick By Boring Brick
19. Misery Business

All photos and writing by Alex Remy. All photos taken at the show can be seen in HD here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51807391@N00/

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