Paramore: A Not-So-Secret Love

So, (I start a lot of blog posts with “so” huh?) Friday 19th November will go down in my own personal history as being one of the best moments of my life. I saw Paramore live for the 5th time, and they absolutely rocked my socks off. If you have never heard a Paramore song, you really should do it…right now! Because I’m telling you my friend, you’re missing out big time.

Paramore, natives of Franklin, Tennessee, started life 6 years ago and have been on the ascent ever since. I cannot express my love for this band enough. Hayley Williams (lead vocalist) said a lot on Friday night, she has since said on Twitter that she felt like she talked too much:




“Such a good show. I talked and talked and sounded like an insane person on the mic but I think everyone was still into it...”




Everyone was still into it, and I watched people hang off her every word. That woman is a goddess. She said something, whilst thanking the crowd for helping Brand New Eyes go platinum in the UK, along the lines of ‘support music everyday, because music will always be there to support you’, and she couldn’t be more right. If you’ve had a shit day, there is nothing like a playlist of your favourite songs to cheer you up, and when you’ve had an awesome day, don’t you feel like you just want to go out and dance you’re ass off to some good music? I know I do.

And whether you’re feeling lighthearted or heartbroken, there is nothing like Paramore to soundtrack your feelings. Seriously guys, this group of talented individuals have written a song for nearly every situation you could have come across in your teen/ young adult life. (Before you start beefin, I said nearly, so don’t be pointing out what they haven’t written about because I ain’t interested).



The opening to Paramore’s Friday night show made me scream so loud, I thought I was going to pass out. Flashing lights lit the band from behind and projected their shadows onto the giant curtain that was between them and us as they played the goosebump-inducing opening chords to Ignorance. The curtain was then dropped from the top of the stage to reveal the band in full rock out mode, which then caused me to jump up and down on what I thought was a dropped bottle. I later realized that this was the person behind me’s foot. Oops. The set included old favourites as well as new, which perfectly matched the crowd. Midway through the show, Hayley asked the audience who had been to a Paramore show before, this was followed by a respectable loud cheer (the loudest, obviously coming from my surprisingly large lungs). She then asked who was currently at their first Paramore show, which saw one of the loudest screams of the night. Paramore’s appeal continues to gather momentum, and they’re picking up a lot of fans on the way. Of course there will always be haters with their “they’re just pop masquerading as rock” type comments, but when a band can generate screams as loud as I heard on Friday, the haters are soon drowned out.

After a wobble post-RIOT!, the band are back in tip top shape, and it shows. The pre-almost-breakup awkwardness and tired faces, have been replaced with a renewed sense of ‘this is where we belong’ type energy. The band have re-gelled and now perform as a whole, rather than a singer and her backing band which they had started to become. Of course, this was through no fault of their own, it was simply over-hype from the media. “OH MY GOD! Wow! It’s such a novelty that a GIRL can front a ROCK BAND! Lets all jump on the bandwagon and make a huge deal out of her and not the rest of the equally as talented members”. Erm, yeah, thanks Media for contributing to the almost-breakup of one of the best bands in the world.

Anyway… Me and my concert companion, B, were discussing the atmosphere after the show. She told me that she had been to see Kate Nash a couple of weeks ago, and although the music was good, there was no atmosphere. She didn’t play B’s favourite songs, nor did she interact with her audience. You know, the people who are buying her music and tickets for her shows and generally supporting her so she can carry on doing what she does? This is another reason why I love Paramore so much, they make plenty of time for their fans, they talk to us during their shows and their love for us is just as big as our love for them. Which other bands do you see selling out arenas and still inviting fans up on stage to sing with them at the climax of the show? This happened on Friday, a group of fans who had been on the front row for every UK show of the tour were pulled up on stage by Hayley to sing the closing lines of Misery Business. I mean, how cool is that? I would hate the guy who got to sing with Hayley, but it was touching to see how clearly amazed this kid was, so I put my bottle of wee down (kidding, obviously! Who pees in bottles? I wasn’t at an 80s Guns n Roses gig for cheesus’ sake).

I could go on and on about my love for Paramore, but there isn’t enough time in the day I’m afraid, and I want to post this before it goes too far past the sell-by date. I’m sure a lot of it is ramblings, but in a rush to get out all my feelings about one of the best nights of my life I tried to make most of it coherent.

Long live Paramore, because “we’re just getting started”.

P.S. New ambition in life: Marry Jeremy Davis.