Paramore returned to the o2 Arena for the second night on Sunday for a reflective set that honoured their indie and dance rock inspirations growing up.
Rozi Plain and co started the night off with chilled out folk rock, soon to be followed by Bloc Party who quickly set the tempo for the night, playing 00s classics like Banquet and Helicopter along with new material in High Life. Paramore have repeatedly spoken about Bloc Party’s influence on their latest record This Is Why, stating they were ‘the number one reference’ due to the ‘urgency to their sound, that was different to the pop punk or the loud wall of sound emo bands that were happening in the early 2000s’. This inspiration shows itself again later in the night.
Paramore arrive to the stage slightly earlier than usual, much to the approval of the eagerly waiting audience. Opening the set with rapid tracks off the new album You First and The News. Despite the change in direction from the band, the crowd respond just as well to this new material as the classics that were to follow – That’s What You Get and Playing God possibly getting the loudest cheers of the night.
Frontwoman Hayley Williams insists on the crowd dancing to several songs throughout the night, most commonly before tracks off 2017 synth-pop inspired album After Laughter. Caught In The Middle, Rose-Coloured Boy and Hard Times all provide this shift in rhythm and tempo to keep audiences on their toes, so to speak.
After rolling through more hits new and old, Williams slows it down with a track from her solo discography, Crystal Clear, followed by new album track Liar. Both songs set up perfectly for Kele Okereke of Bloc Party to return to stage. Hayley uses this opportunity to re-emphasize the importance of the London collective to them, saying the band have grown up with [Bloc Party] the same way their fans grew up with Paramore.
After big hits Hard Times and Still Into You, drummer Zac Farro comes to front of stage, to perform unreleased HalfNoise track Baby, due to come out this Friday. Given Paramore’s tense history of lineup changes and fallouts, it’s clear to see the band are tighter than ever, with Williams more than happy to retreat to acoustic guitar.
Paramore close out the intial set with a group of essential tracks – The Only Exception (which the band talk of reclaiming along with Last Hope), Ain’t It Fun and Misery Business which brings three fans to the stage to sing the final chorus, again showing the close bond between the band and their audience that Williams spoke of. These tracks were split up by new album track Crave, which featured an intense extended outro that’s built for the climactic final act of a show.
The band quickly return to stage to play All I Wanted, a song that only recieved its live debut last year due to being right at the top of Williams’ vocal range, with the whole song building up to one huge belting chorus. Before playing the band’s only title track This Is Why, they go on to say they are already planning their next UK tour, so any fans that missed out should keep their eyes peeled.
Writing by Hugo Harris
Photography by Zachary Gray