I've been beyond lucky in having seen All time Low play 5 times in the last two years. I've seen them play The O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire (February 2013), Slam Dunk 2013, The O2 Brixton Academy (March 2014), The O2 Arena (February 2015) and then again yesterday evening, at Wembley arena. Each time the band delivering an exciting and unique performance paired with an equally as exciting set and lighting. They're also never short of a joke- even though the gags become quite predictable after a while. On the whole, I feel a great sense of pride in knowing I've been supporting a band like All Time Low since 2012, when I first discovered their music, despite this only being a fraction of the band's activity. In fact, their music has introduced me to a wider range of music in the pop punk genre as well as introduced me to new music related experiences such as the joys of 'extreme queuing' for bands. Or at least 6 hours felt extreme at the time. What shocked me the most was the shift in audience age. In 2013 the crowd was mainly composed of young people, aged mostly from 16 to 30. Whereas in the Wembley performance the age range was staggered and strangely very varied which I felt was amazing because it's allowing access to a new genre of music for a lot of people. I also like the idea of many people sharing the same unique experience.
Yesterday's set was jam packed full of old- for example 'Jasey Rae' from All Time Low's first EP, Put Up or Shut Up-and new songs- where 'something's gotta give' and 'kids in the dark' were introduced from new album 'future hearts'. The range in the set list insured that any All time Low fan- new or old- was happy. The audience were even treated to an 'intimate' acoustic break with Alex Gaskarth's (lead singer) solo performance of 'Therapy' and 'Remembering Sunday', where Gaskarth was joined by Cassadee Pope. The date itself was seen as an extension of their recent tour with Weybridge's You Me At Six (Josh Franceschi, the lead singer of You Me at Six, even made an appearance during 'Outlines') and therefore much of the imagery used and the set list performed were the same or very similar. However, the performance was still energetic and visually stimulating which reflected into the audience's reaction. The band also invited multiple members of the audience up onto the stage to sing 'Time Bomb' from their album Nothing Personal which proved outstanding audience engagement. Strangely the whole evening felt very intimate despite the huge volume of people there. Having been their first solo headlining arena date (which also sold out) I am very excited to see where this leads them. I am fortunate enough to be seeing them again on Sunday at an acoustic show at Kingston's Banquet records (at the Hippodrome) but I am also excited to see them again in the near future perhaps touring with the album 'future hearts' which is out on April 3rd on Hopeless records.
Charley
