LIVE REVIEW | PARAMORE
Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff,
Sat 21 Sept
The smell of fried food, overpriced drinks, sweat and a thousand different kinds of perfume fills the air from the buzzing, sold-out crowd for Paramore’s return to Cardiff. The crowd is equal parts teenagers, parents accompanying them, metallers and the usual array of Saturday night drinkers, but there’s a palpable sense of anticipation in the air.
A curtain covers the stage in front of the crowd and just before the sound of thousands of screaming mouths becomes too much, it drops in a flash of bright light to reveal the logo from their Singles Club box set, flanked by gigantic screens and a stage set up to give pride of place to the core remaining members of the band.
A sea of cameraphones are held up in the air to capture the occasion, with every screen changing colour in sequence with the brightly coloured lights around the stage. Pint-sized Hayley Williams is undeniably the star of the show; her miniscule size is completely overwhelmed by her gigantic voice, how she controls the crowd and her boundless energy and show(wo)manship. Dashing from one side of the stage to the other surrounded by bassist, Jeremy Davis and guitarist Taylor York, she has the crowd in the palm of her hand.
The lineup is fleshed out by two extra guitarists and a drummer who provide a much-needed boost of power to fill up any empty spaces of the arena. The crowd goes wild for the older material and sings along to every word when they blast out That’s What You Get, Decode and Ignorance in quick succession; everything runs smoothly until some of the newer songs are played that get a decent reaction from the crowd, but one considerably more muted than before.
Paramour get the crowd fully back on track with a rendition of Misery Business which features an overwhelmed fan on guest vocals, invited from the crowd by Hayley. They’ve really honed their craft over the years and it feels like they deserve the adoration that’s been given to them.
words GARETH MOULE