Packed with summery pop tunes from their new album, Paramore’s live comeback was perfectly timed for the capital’s heatwave.
Formerly a teenage emo band from Tennessee, they opened their first London show in four years with Eighties-style synths and sleek guitars on the infectious Told You So.
With her platinum hair, high-kicking stage moves and wailing vocal, Hayley Williams, 28, was an animated singer who seemed thrilled to be back in “London-England” at this “intimate” venue (the band played two nights at Wembley Arena last time). Her peppy persona meant the six blokes in the live group struggled to get noticed, perhaps not surprising given the revolving line-up around the singer over the years.
Williams appeared energised by Paramore’s playful pop from their After Laughter album, though the reggae-tinged Caught In The Middle and crashing chorus of Fake Happy still featured typically angsty lyrics.
Despite the change in musical direction, the audience were out of their seats for the entire 90 minutes and embraced the new songs like old friends. It helped that the band gave the glossy grooves plenty of welly with rattling percussion and jagged riffs. Williams was also minded to celebrate the past decade since their breakthrough record. “We really have grown up with you,” she said.
The Twilight films now seem a distant memory, but there was a feverish reaction for the doomy epic rock of Decode from the original soundtrack.
When they revisited the early pop-punk years, the venue erupted with Williams drowned out during a mass singalong of Misery Business. Several giddy fans were invited up to head-bang and bawl along.
Paramore also hit the right note off stage with a generous donation of merchandise proceeds from the sale of their tour T-shirt to the Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund in support of Grenfell Tower residents.
