Williams wows
The last time I saw Paramore live, I was disappointed. But when I heard that Paramore would be playing at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va., I decided to give the band a chance to redeem themselves.
And redeem they did — Paramore gave a satisfying performance.
The band has changed in multiple ways since the Brand New Eyes Fall Tour in 2009. After the departure of founding members Zac and Josh Farro in 2010, I assumed that the band would fall apart like so many other pop-punk bands before them.
Instead, Paramore seized the opportunity to clean up its act — quite literally. The stage was devoid of the trinkets and mirrors that once cluttered it. Instead, the band opted for a fairly simple logo — three LED stripes that extended from stage to ceiling, each representing the three remaining band members: bassist Jeremy Davis, lead vocalist Hayley Williams and guitarist Taylor York. In addition, Williams, famous for her fiery orange locks, surprised the audience with her sharp Dutch boy haircut.
Despite all of these changes, Paramore has managed to mature gracefully without losing the qualities that make the band distinctively Paramore. For example, Williams still dances on stage and thrashes about like a moshing teenager. However, her comfort level on the stage has dramatically increased. This was apparent during the concert’s opening song, “Grow Up,” in which she pranced around in gold-sequined shorts, riling up the crowd. This time around, she proved she is a dynamic stage performer, compensating for her 5’2” stature.
Williams also sang about more complex topics than she has in the past. Paramore has struggled, and the band’s internal turmoil provided fodder for its latest self-titled album, a proliferation of 17 tracks about life, loss and rage. The band emphasized this aspect — out of the 21-song set list, half were from Paramore.
Williams also capitalized on this by chanting her “We are Paramore!” mantra to the crowd, driving the point home that Paramore has emerged victorious from its struggle with better songwriting. For instance, “crushcrushcrush,” a single from Riot!, preceded “Ain’t it Fun,” one of their new songs about “living in the real world.” Williams delivered the latter with a sarcastic edge — she knows more about the ways of the world since the release of “crushcrushcrush,” which sounded borderline whiny in comparison.
In addition, Paramore showed off its more insightful side with the song “In the Mourning,” an unreleased track that quotes material from Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide.” Having not heard the song before, I was impressed by how the band suddenly switched gears from cynical to touching. The song strongly affected the audience, as thousands of people took out their lighters and iPhone flashlights and waved them in the air.
But Paramore is still a pop-punk band, and it performed mosh-pit anthems All We Know Is Falling favorite “Pressure,” Riot! single “Misery Business” and Paramore’s “Still Into You” in their final set. The band also invited two lucky audience members up to sing with them and humbly thanked their opening acts Hellogoodbye and Metric at the show’s closing.
Overall, minus a few microphone blowouts and lighting that over-emphasized Williams — to the point that she obscured York and Davis at times — the concert was solid and brought me back to my middle school pop-punk, Converse-wearing days. Seeing Paramore live again also reminded me of why I still love the band so many years later; as I grew up, Paramore did as well.
