You Me At Six - Rose Theatre, Kingston, 22/01/17

Elissa Franceschi has been quiet for a while.
The last video posted to her Youtube channel went up nearly three years ago, and her last official single, 'Dust', will be turning four in October. She was only announced as the support act for this show a couple of hours before the doors opened, but being the sister of You Me At Six's frontman, all ticket holders knew exactly who she was.
"This is a bit strange!" she laughed after her opening song. "I haven't played a gig in a very long time. It's strange, but it's nice." Her set was shaky to start - her eyes glued to her piano, seeming to find it hard to interact with the crowd and not projecting her powerful voice as much as she normally does - but by the end of her five song set she'd completely loosened up.
Popping in a cheeky cover of the Justin Bieber hit 'Sorry', she ad-libbed throughout allowing her personality to shine. After stumbling over the lyrics she quipped "Is it fucking rap?!" and closed the song by solemnly saying "I'm really sorry for that...". The joke got a huge groan from the crowd, but it was accompanied by rapturous applause.
Receiving such a great reaction relaxed her, and the aforementioned 'Dust' was performed beautifully.
Introducing new song 'Magnets', Elissa shared the fact that she'd recently moved back to the UK from America - probably another reason she's been flying under the radar! Remarking that it was written after observing "the push and pull of life". Comparing her two new songs to the two older songs she played, it's obvious that her writing style has matured and developed during her break: her lyrics are more profound, the quick tempo to the song showed she wasn't afraid of trying new things, and I'm very excited for them to go up online so I can listen to them again.
Closing with 'Salt', her most well-known song, I was surprised that she didn't get her brother out on stage with her. He lends his vocals to the track, a collaboration that helped launch her career, and it would have been wonderful to hear it in a live environment, but alas I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed for them to play a show together again in the future.
Her nerves were understandable. Going from not playing a gig in years to playing an esteemed venue such as this one must be nerve-wracking! I'm glad to see Elissa back and playing new music, and I'm hoping that 2017 will herald the arrival of a new EP.  

Setlist:

I Wonder If She Knows

Sorry (cover)

Dust
Magnets

Salt

In case you haven't guessed, I love You Me At Six. This was my fifth time seeing them since their comeback in August, and I've already got my tickets booked for the Alexandra Palace show they're playing in April.
Thankfully, I got given tickets to this show for Christmas. I didn't think I was going to be able to make it, and knowing that it was the first acoustic headline show that the band had ever performed it was one I really didn't want to miss. 

'Night People' was released at the start of the month, so this was primarily a celebration of the new album; out of the thirteen songs the band performed six were from their newest release. I love the majority of the new album - the one exception being 'Heavy Soul' - and the songs don't disappoint in a live environment. The studio version of 'Heavy Soul' bores me, but it's less bland in a live environment, the acoustic version that they performed beautifully arranged and a very strong start to the set. Showcasing alternate versions of 'Give', 'Night People' and 'Swear' were obvious inclusions, but that didn't make them less strong. 'Give' lends itself perfectly to an acoustic rendition, while 'Swear' is normally so vicious that hearing it stripped back makes it more powerful.
This show featured the live debuts of both 'Take On The World' and 'Brand New', and I was shocked by the fact that the crowd already love the new songs. I knew it was true of 'Give' - it feels like it's been in the set for years because it's so obviously a favourite - but I hadn't expected the crowd to love all of the new material without question.
'Brand New' was a surprise inclusion, Josh sharing that they'd discussed it and decided not to play it but he wanted to put it in after all. While waiting for the band to get their instruments tuned, he sang the chorus on his own, joking "There ya go, acapella!" before laughing to himself and saying "Can you tell we made that record in Nashville or what?" adopting an over-the-top fake country accent, goofing around in a way he doesn't normally.
He dedicated 'Take On The World' to his fiancée Abigail. Every time they release an album, they have one pure love song on it ('Always Attract', 'Fireworks', 'Crash' etc.), songs which are breath-taking live, and this one's not the exception. The woah-oh-oh chant in the background live isn't spine-tingling just yet, but in four months time this could be the song that catapults You Me At Six to stadium heights.
This show was a family affair. Kingston is very close to the boy's home in Surrey, so it wasn't surprising that their relatives out in force: even Josh's dog Harley was at the show. He shared this fact early in the night and during every quiet moment the crowd's chant of "Harley, Harley!" started up again. Josh brushed it off to start with, jokingly chanting "We want dog!" in response, but before playing 'Night People' he agreed to get Harley out on stage if no one screamed because "he's only a baby".
You've never heard a room go silent so fast. Josh gathered Harley up in his arms, giving him a big cuddle and showing him off to everyone, before letting him run back off of the stage to the relative quiet of the wings. As a huge dog lover, I was pumped: Harley has one of the cutest Instagram accounts you'll ever follow.
The band couldn't resist showcasing a selection of songs from their back catalogue alongside the newer material. They alternated between new and old songs, choosing to forego playing fan favourites such as 'Bite My Tongue' and 'Underdog' and instead picking tracks to make the night truly unforgettable.
The most surprising inclusion was 'Be Who You Are' from 'Cavalier Youth', the shortest song that the band have ever released. It was the most cheerful song in their set and worked beautifully in this setting; I can understand why the band chose to include it despite never playing it live before. My personal highlight had to be 'Loverboy', though: the acoustic version that they released six years ago is always in my most played lists, and hearing Josh scream "Chris Miller's about to shred on an acoustic!" is a moment I'm never going to forget.
The band enjoyed this show as much as the fans did. Josh shared that it "might about be the catalyst for us doing a little acoustic tour around the country" and that they'd "love to do this thing properly, with an orchestra." When they announce those shows, you don't want to miss out.

Setlist:

Heavy Soul

Fresh Start Fever
Take On The World
Stay With Me
Swear
Be Who You Are

Give

Too Young To Feel This Old

Loverboy

Brand New
Lived A Lie

Night People

Room To Breathe

When I reviewed You Me At Six's Camden show for afterLIVE I talked about how relieving it was to see the boys having fun on stage, and that was also true at this show. The smaller the shows, the better the atmosphere. I know they're going to be at the top of their game when they play that arena tour in April, but I'm going to miss the relaxed attitude that I've grown accustomed to. You won't get Josh introducing the wrong song or singing the riff of Jennifer Lopez's 'Jenny From The Block' at Alexandra Palace... 

State Champs - The Hippodrome, Kingston, 03/10/15

I have a strange relationship with pop punk bands. I either love them instantly (Seaway, Forever Came Calling) or it takes me a very long time to really appreciate them (Neck Deep, Real Friends). Because I bought my tickets to this show the day before, I didn't have time to listen to any of the bands - it meant I went into this concert knowing one State Champs song, and having no idea what I really thought of Roam and Knuckle Puck. 

Because of seeing No Devotion beforehand, I was certain that I was going to miss the beginning of Roam, but thankfully I managed to walk in as the opening chords of 'Warning Sign' started. It was actually lucky that the guys made it too - the band had had trouble with getting through the Eurotunnel, apparently only pulling up half an hour before their stage time.
Hailing from Brighton, Roam are one of the standout bands in the UK pop punk scene - their debut album isn't out for another few months, but with their first two EPs they've gathered quite a loyal following.
Roam are one of those pop punk bands that you have a lot of fun listening to, but after a while you notice that most of the songs sound exactly the same. The one exception to this rule was 'Cabin Fever', the song they performed from their upcoming release. I can't exactly put my finger on why it was stood out - the chord structure was a bit more developed, and the drum line was markedly different (potentially because their photographer, Elliot, stepped in on the track), but other than that it still sounded like Roam... It just left me feeling excited for what they could potentially do in the future.
I think Roam are a band that could grow on me, because I did really enjoy their live show: the crowd was going absolutely insane, and it was the best reaction for an opening band that I think I've ever witnessed. They might have had a better reaction because they were the only UK act on the bill, but it was inspiring to see them flying the flag for our brand of pop punk (even if they do sound rather American in their music!). Being able to perform a nine song set as a opener is also extremely impressive - most smaller bands only play five or six songs in a half an hour, but because Roam's songs are so speedy they managed to squeeze in many more songs. If this is the kind of show that they can put on at this early stage of their career, the album release is really going to catapult them to new levels. The band shared the fact that they have a music video for another new song coming out in the next couple of weeks, so keep an eye out for that. 

Setlist:

Warning Sign

Over Your Head 

Foresight

Nothing In Return

Cabin Fever

You Never Said

519

Safeguard

Head Rush

I'd seen Knuckle Puck before - five minutes of the end of their set at Slam Dunk this year. I wasn't too impressed, but I was also rushing between PVRIS and Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties, so I didn't have too much time to stop and appreciate them. I'd always intended on seeing them again at some point, I just hadn't expected this point to come so quickly!
I had the same problem with Knuckle Puck that I had with Roam. Their songs just seemed to blend together, and I couldn't really differentiate between them towards the end of the night - it's been less than 24 hours and I already can't really recall what any of them sounded like. It was a shame, because I'd been really pumped about seeing them, but alas it just didn't really do anything for me.
I know I really enjoyed 'Gold Rush', the song that they released on a split single with Neck Deep - throughout the performance I realised that the show couldn't have possibly been any more pop punk, because there was a ginormous inflatable floating penis bouncing over the crowd. You can't have pop punk show without some inappropriately large genitalia making an appearance!
If there's one thing I can say about Knuckle Puck, it's that they're dedicated. When discussing the Eurotunnel problems suffered by the band, they admitted that they'd actually forged their passes to make it back into the country because "there was no way in hell that we were not going to show up to play some songs with you tonight". They also seemed so humble and appreciative of the crowd that they'd attracted, thanking everyone multiple times - for an American band who have only been together for five years, it is impressive that they're taking our country by storm so easily.
Because it was the last show of the tour, there had to be guest appearances, so after Ryan from Knuckle Puck went on stage (briefly!) with Roam, Alex Costello decided to repay the favour. His appearance on 'No Good' definitely added another level to the show, and it was so much fun - I do love spontaneous collaborations.
I'm going to listen to Knuckle Puck some more, because I think it might take me a little while to get into them; at least I know if I see them live again I'm bound to have fun.

Setlist:

Disdain

But Why Would You Care?

Oak Street

Gold Rush

True Contrite

No Good (ft. Alex Costello from Roam)

Pretense

You'll remember earlier than I said sometimes it takes me a long time to love pop punk bands, and sometimes I love them instantly - State Champs are definitely in the latter camp. I am absolutely in love with singer Derek DiScanio's vocal tone; he has a clear tone that makes it easy to understand all of the lyrics, and lyrical content is something that matters a lot to me: it's one of the reasons it can be difficult for me to really adore a band if the first time I really encounter them is in the live environment.
The only song I'd ever encountered before was opener 'All You Are Is History' - I heard it on the radio once, fell in love with it, and ordered State Champs entire back catalogue and pre-ordered their new album on vinyl five minutes later. Yeah, it was a bit extreme (and I've had no time to listen to them since...) but after seeing them I know that it was a good call. Derek said that the band were calling this their album release show, as it's the show they're playing closest to 'All Around The World and Back' launching (it comes out in two weeks) but he also said that it was a farewell to 'The Finer Things', their debut album. Because the new album isn't out quite yet, they only played two new songs - the aforementioned track and newest single 'Secrets', but they both stood out so brilliantly. All of State Champs music is fast and easy to dance to, but the newer songs really hook their claws into you and don't let you go. With the experience that State Champs have gathered over the last couple of years, playing multiple supporting slots and a few festivals (Slam Dunk here in the UK, and Warped Tour in America) you can tell it's been good for the band - they've honed their songwriting skills and are really standing out in their field for this point of their career.
In all honesty, there wasn't a song of their set that didn't impress me. This is State Champs third time in the UK but is only their first headlining tour here, and they also seemed very humble - Derek said they "never thought it would come to a place where we'd be halfway across the world" and thanked the crowd profusely for their support over the last few years.
No, I didn't have my socks knocked off by either of the supporting bands, but overall this was one of the most fun shows I've ever been to. It's certainly the most pop punk lineup I've seen! The bands all seemed like they'd had a blast on the tour, with every band saying that they really didn't want it to end - State Champs called it "one of the coolest tours we've ever done". When the bands on a tour get along well it's really easy to see, because everyone is so relaxed - it makes for a great environment, because the joking between the bands really livens up a show. With State Champs joking about the height of Roam's Alex ("I was going to do guest vocals, but Alex from Roam stole my spot! Where are you, Alex? No, you're way too tall to be Alex!") it really did get the whole crowd laughing - banter between bands is much funnier than banter with the crowd, because you feel as though you're among friends. Because this tour has been going on for so long, it's pretty certain that lifelong friendships have been cemented - I wouldn't be too surprised if these guys play more shows together before too long.
Just before playing their encore, Derek asked the crowd "if we come back next year after the album comes out, will you come hang out again?" and after the roar of cheers quietened a bit, he laughed and said "we're gonna announce that next week, keep an eye on the internet" - there are more tour dates coming, and they're coming soon! I'm hoping I'll be able to see State Champs again, because it would be great to see a show at which I actually knew the songs - I really enjoyed the music, but I think it would be better if I could more fully appreciate their live sound. I, for one, am extremely excited for the release of 'All Around The World And Back' - I can't wait for it to hurry up and get here!

Setlist:

All You Are Is History

Remedy

Secrets

Prepare To Be Noticed

Deadly Conversation

Simple Existence

Easy Enough

Nothing's Wrong

Hard To Please

-

Losing Myself

Elevated

No Devotion - Banquet Records, 03/10/15

(Photo credit to Banquet Records!) 

As you can tell from the picture above, the No Devotion in-store that I attended earlier this evening really lived up to the description "intimate". It was a wonderful atmosphere, to be that close to a band of such high standard, and it was an extremely special moment. No Devotion released their debut album, 'Permanence', just last week - this was the first of two performances today, to bring to a close the tour they've been doing to promote it. 

The band have had a tough couple of weeks, with Geoff Rickly's record label facing financial difficulties and with the frontman getting poisoned at the start of the tour; it was surprising the band even had time to fit something like this into what was a manically hectic schedule. It was only a short set, with the guys playing three songs, but I was thoroughly impressed with all of them.

Most of the songs on 'Permanence' I heard for the first time live - as this is the fourth time I've seen the band in the past year, I've been going to their shows for a while where they've had hardly any material released. Because I knew I was going to this set, I decided to wait to listen to the album in full - I wanted to experience more of the new material in a live environment for the first time. That meant that this show was the first time I had heard 'Why Can't I Be With You?' and 'Break', and they both absolutely blew me away. It was the first time the band had ever played 'Why Can't I Be With You?' live, and it was a great way to premiere a song. 

Because of the small environment, I found Jamie Oliver's synths and keyboards felt so much more effective. Sometimes I feel as though he's overshadowed by the other members, because his work is understated and subtle rather than offensively in your face. That didn't happen at this show though - because the room was so small and the band was so close, you could get much more of a feel for the nuances of the music, and the layers upon layers that go into the tracks was much more obvious. This thrilled me, because it added so much depth: you could physically feel the music, and that's something special right there. 

Of course, my favourite song that they performed was 'Grand Central', but I'm totally biased because that was one of my favourite songs at their first ever show. It frames Geoff's vocal in such a brilliant light, and the power that he puts into the song is spine-tingling. It sounds like a cliche, but it's true: if you listen to that song with the headphones up loud it takes a while for it to leave you. Because the band were performing without a drummer (Philip Jenkins from Kids In Glass Houses is on tour with them but didn't play in this small show; guitarist Mike Lewis has also had to sit out this string of performances) it meant that the end of the song felt a bit strange, but it put a unique spin on it which was interesting to hear. 

No Devotion are one of the only bands I can think of at the moment who are actually doing something different. There's so much of the same music being released over and over again, but I can't think of anything to compare this band to - they're in a whole other league. I've been nervous about listening to 'Permanence' because I had my expectations set so high, but I'm definitely going to play it in full tomorrow - it's not going to disappoint me, because No Devotion are not a band who disappoint, even if Geoff did admit he "spent a couple of days begging to go home because I was dying, but I wasn't dying apparently!". 

If you haven't listened to No Devotion yet, change that. You will not regret it. 

Setlist:

Why Can't I Be With You? 

Break

Grand Central

All Time Low - The Hippodrome, Kingston, 22/03/15

After only seeing them two days ago at Wembley Arena, I couldn't believe I was hopping back on a train to go and see an intimate All Time Low acoustic set. From a 12,000 capacity venue to a 2,000 capacity venue, walking in was a startling contrast, and the energy in the room was palpable from the word go. With this being their second acoustic performance of the day - the matinee performance at 4pm, as well as the later show that I attended at 7pm - many of the crowd had already seen the band once and had queued up for round two, but that didn't dampen the enthusiasm in the room.

This meant that it must have been a daunting task for opener Rob Lynch. Being confronted with a few thousand people can't be the easiest task on a normal night, but when you're opening for a band like All Time Low in a setting like this it must be absolutely terrifying. He didn't see to let the nerves get to him though, as his thirty minute set was filled to the brim with sing-along moments. Starting off with 'Broken Bones' I was surprised by how beautiful Rob's voice was - I'd never listened to him in the past, so I wasn't certain of what to expect, but his tone is pure in a striking way that you don't normally hear in rock music. Running through a selection of brilliant songs I was impressed by how different Rob's songs sounded from one to the other - too often with acoustic artists it's difficult to distinguish one track from another because of the similarity in tone. The only song of Rob's that even slightly resembled anything else was 'Whiskey', which had a feeling of Ed Sheeran's 'Give Me Love' - not in an overly similar way, but the emotional aspect to the song definitely resonated. Both encouraging the crowd to sing and completely enjoying himself, it was brilliant to see everyone responding to him well, instead of just with the polite attention that sometimes is given to a support act. The audience clapped and swayed along through the entire set, proving that there's definitely something special about Rob Lynch. I was thoroughly impressed by every song in his seven song set, so much so that I automatically bought both of his albums afterwards, and I can't wait to listen to him more. If any of you are going to Slam Dunk festival in May, make sure to pop in and see a few songs of his set - it's not something that you want to miss. 

Setlist:

Broken Bones

Feeling Good

Baby, I'm A Runaway

Whiskey

Hawking

Plans

My Friends And I

Of course, all of the crowd were really there to see All Time Low perform, so it wasn't a surprise that the chants for them to come on stage started a good few minutes before their set time. It has been on my bucket list since their MTV Unplugged set to eventually see them playing acoustically live, so I'm happy to say that they definitely met my expectations. After a flurry of bras had already flown onto the stage as soon as they walked out they started with 'Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)', and I was impressed by how confident the band were even in an acoustic environment. As they don't play acoustic sets very regularly, I wasn't expecting them to sound as tightly well arranged as they did, so it was very relieving. After the first song Alex Gaskarth was already complaining about his hand hurting so much from playing the tambourine, but this didn't stop him from throwing everything he had into every song they played. 

The set was rather a lot shorter than the one at Wembley, which is to be expected when they only had a fifty minute set time, but it was still just as enjoyable and still featured a large variety of songs. I was extremely impressed by the acoustic arrangement of 'Kids In The Dark', which - if it's even possible - sounded better in this version than the original, and it was definitely my highlight of the evening. Cassadee Pope performing guest vocals on 'Remembering Sunday' again was also a great inclusion, and I was even more impressed with her voice than I had been at Wembley. 

The only low point in the set for me was 'Weightless', which just didn't seem to translate as well as the other songs into an acoustic. Some of the harmonising between the guys seemed a little bit flat, and because of how powerful the song normally is in a live environment I did find it quite a bit disappointing, but you can't have every song go perfectly so this wasn't such a negative. The rest of the set went off without a hitch, and playing 'Dear Maria, Count Me In' as the penultimate song instead of the closer was a nice difference from the normal set that they put on. With Jack Barakat joking that they were going to perform 'Come One, Come All', an early song that they never put in their set, it was brilliant to hear a large cheer go up for the song, so I'm hoping that the next time All Time Low tour over here they think about slipping in some little surprises.

Closing with 'Something's Gotta Give' was a brilliant way to raise the anticipation for 'Future Hearts' even further. To get a ticket to this show you needed to pre-order the album, so everyone in the room was understandably already excited for it, but leaving the show on a high note like this was a brilliant decision. With new song 'Runaways' premiering on MTV today, I can't wait to see what the rest of the album brings, but I think it's going to be brilliant. 

Setlist:

Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)

Backseat Serenade

Somewhere In Neverland

Kids In The Dark

Remembering Sunday ft. Cassadee Pope 

Therapy

Weightless

Dear Maria, Count Me In

Something's Gotta Give