Friday 01/01/08 Paramore @ Brixton Academy, London

She may be slight of stature, but she sure ain’t slight of pipes. Tonight Brixton Academy plays host to Paramore, the hottest punk popstrels of the moment – and they don’t disappoint. Fire topped front woman Hayley Williams is ringleader to a throng of thirsty admirers (and some mums and dads on the side) and she plays it out like a pro. She’s pint sized, and pitch perfect.

Infused with adrenaline on the second night of their UK Riot Tour, Paramore are pumped up and ready to burst. Every album track is given the treatment of a single, every single means Williams’ voice can barely be heard over the crowd’s amalgamation; every track shows London’s love for Paramore is unshakable.

Having been lubed up by New Found Glory’s energetic set beforehand – albeit most of their praise came for the cover tracks – the Brixton masses show no signs of faltering as Williams chants at them to sing like it’s the last song you’ll ever sing during second anthem ‘Born For This’.

Powering through a set that’s glittering with gems such as singles ‘Emergency’ and ‘Crushcrushcrush’ – when, ironically, the most fans seem to be carried away by the medics – it’s a writhing mass of hair shaking and arms flailing, and that’s just on stage. The chaos is continued with Jeremy (Davis, bass) side flipping over Josh’s (Farro, guitar) back, both managing to keep on playing as he does so.

When the chants of “We love Hayley!” eventually die out, the fluorescent adolescent audience are treated to ‘All We Know Is Falling’, before a slowed down rendition of ‘My Heart’, seeing Williams showcase her skills on the keyboard, and “those other blokes at the back” take a bit of a breather.

The icing on the cake though has to be when the impossibly teeny Tennessee trooper tells us that the band are “gonna perform a song that we love, by Jimmy Eat World”. The crowd are momentarily silent before erupting into a sea of screams and flails similar to those of eccentric fans at a boy-band concert as the opening bars of the original Emo icons lunge out, and cease to stop until the cover track has finished.
What was it?

It was 'Sweetness' of course. The only one with enough wooaaahhs.

To see pictures of Paramore's Manchester gig earlier in the week click HERE