Photo: Andy Sidders / Press
Camden's Roundhouse was last night packed with excited, and sweaty, Paramore fans as the US rockers headlined the fourth night of this year's iTunes Festival.
The number of hardcore fans present was astounding, and it lent an unmistakeable atmosphere of nervous excitement to the already spellbinding Roundhouse venue as fans jostled and elbowed their way, beers in hand, to the most unhindered view possible of pint-sized front woman Hayley Williams. Before even seeing the Tennessee rockers walk on stage, deafening screams rang out before Paramore began proceedings with album track ‘Grow Up’ from their new self-titled album. A somewhat questionable choice for an opener perhaps – but nevertheless it went down well with the crowd.
In the first of Paramore's UK gigs ahead of touring Europe and subsequently returning to England, Hayley was on usual stomping, sassy-in-miniature form; whipping the audience into a frenzy whilst simultaneously cavorting around the stage so frantically it was a wonder she had any breath left to sing.
The set was a good mixture of both old and new material, with classic hits like 'Misery Business' (cue frantic jumping and devil horns), 'The Only Exception’ (lots of lighters in the air and swaying) and 'That’s What You Get' (air drumming is apparently now an acceptable form of audience participation). The chart-toppers were expertly interwoven with new material from their current album, highlights of which were definitely songs like 'Last Hope', 'Daydreaming' and 'Ain’t It Fun' - which has a brilliantly catchy beat and contained a hugely enjoyable crowd sing-a-long to the lines "Don’t go crying/to your mama/'cause you're on your own/in the real world."
The remaining two members of Paramore; Taylor York and Jeremy Davis, remained disappointingly mute throughout the entire 90-minute set – but Williams was more than capable of handling crowd interaction duties; as she chatted, teased and even pulled up a completely star-struck audience member to sing alongside her during 'Misery Business'.
Ending the night with an encore of three songs, the finale of which could be none other than their brilliant single 'Still Into You'. The last, anthemic chorus was justly accompanied by an enormous cannon-burst of orange star-shaped confetti, signalling the end of what had been a truly great evening.
Set List:
Grow Up
Fast in My Car
That's What You Get
Decode
Ignorance
Interlude: I'm Not Angry Anymore
Now
Daydreaming
When It Rains
Last Hope
Brick by Boring Brick
(Ext. Intro)
Interlude: Holiday
Crushcrushcrush
Ain't It Fun
The Only Exception
In the Mourning (Including a quick cover of Fleetwood Mac's 'Landslide')
Pressure
Misery Business
Encore:
Part II
Interlude: Moving On
Still Into You
(Ext. Outro)
Below: exclusive photos of Paramore's headline gig at the iTunes Festival
