The 02 show, phat.
Obligatory Paramore post-show lj entry right here. Less drama than last time, everything went smooth. I caught the train midday-ish to Liverpool street, comedy moment of the journey:
mum: 'Oh Maryland station, like we're in Monopoly, the game'
me: 'No mum, it's Marylebone that's on the Monopoly board'
mum: 'OH...ha.
We were kind of worrying about the Jubilee line being closed to do with the tube, but as i said everything went smooth and the replacement buses were surprisingly on time and a-ok. Got to the 02 Arena, bummed about a bit for a couple of hours. Bought a Paramore shirt, the one with the dates. Unlike last time the merch was less Paramore farm animals and much nicer, they had a pretty cool hoodie with some lyrics from Ignorance on it but it was like £40 so, erm, no thanks. Then we went to Nandos, and that's always win. Love me some portuguese chicken. I really like the 02 Arena, it's got so much stuff.
So then we lined up, and i jealously looked at the M&G people for a while haha. Anyways, just chilling in line and i see Brandon come down the stairs. And i'm like :3, quite literally. He looked cute in a hipsterish sort of way. He had a little jacket on and some skinnies and ofc, a bobble hat. I was going to be like 'BRANDON! HI' but it would of been awkward 'cause no one seemed to recognise him and he was busy. Instead i text Sinead, to express my fangirly weirdness. He was sticking pieces of paper everywhere so i was like wait right thurr a second, does this mean he's filming the show? And yup, that's what it said including all that disclaimer type stuff. I really hope he got a lot of it, or at-least the best parts, MAYBE EVEN ALL OF IT. yes please. rrrrrrright, moving on. I got to my seats and was pleasantly surprised. When i bought my tickets and then all the way up to the day i was convinced that my seats were kind of crappy and i'd just have to deal. But, it turned out they were way better than my seats at Wembley, something which i repeated to my mum a lot haha. I was level with the stage and had a really good view, so yep this plus the thought that Brandon would be filmng things made me smile in a goofy way.
RIGHT, on to the music. 'Fun.' were first (it bothers me to leave it as just a full-stop after 'Fun', english rage). They were pretty good. The lead singer was really working it, as well as the guitarists. I have their album but i haven't really listened to it much, except for the songs like All The Pretty Girls and Benson Hedges. But, yeah, they do what their name says. I really appreciated their Queen cover of Radio Gaga, the clapping parts were fun and my mum was like "I know this one!". The arena was only about a third full at that point, but when people cheered it still sounded loud so i was so up for hearing people at full capacity screaming for Paramore. I felt a bit sorry for them, they were proper going for it and the response from the crowd was a bit half-hearted, especially with the sing-a-long parts. But, i did like them so i think i'll give them more of a proper listen. B.o.B. was next, people were way more up for him. He played a good mix of well-known singles and other songs on his album. I was really surprised to see him play guitar and go into a quieter song like Letters From Vietnam, but i liked it, i was just expecting a straight-up rap set from him. Obviously Nothin' On You and Magic went down well, oh and Satellite and a song about Shades? ha idk. The arena was filling up steadily at this point, so when it got to Airplanes it was way more full than it had been for Fun. The song started up and everyone went nuts for Hayley and then B.o.B. stopped it for a sec and was like "WHERE ARE WE?!", followed by the crowd shouting back "LANDAN". And then the song started up again and everyone was even more hyped up than they had to begin with. Hayley sounded really good on it live and i smiled pretty goofily again to see her doing her dancing things she does on stage and when she hugged B.o.B.
And then PARAMORE TIME (after a short-break). The lights went out, and everyone was cheering so loudly and going mad. I love the intro that they've been playing for this and other tours recently, i think it's one of my favourites other than the one they played last year at Wembley. They went straight into Ignorance, and Hayley, Taylor and Jeremy were bouncing round the stage like crazy people. I was kind of anxious that nothing would beat last year at Wembley because that show was so good for so many reasons but Paramore were so on it. They then went into Feeling Sorry, and listening to it on bne, idk, i'm not a massive fan because it seems to blend into (at-least in my mind) Looking Up, but it was so good live and the crowd sounded really good on it like a proper arena anthem. I loved it when they cut everything out, leaving the guys and Hayley standing there in silence with the spotlights, it was really atmospheric and cue everyone screaming like mad. So loud. They then went into some older stuff, in order: TWYG, FAPIPO, and Emergency. TWYG was amazing, everyone was bouncing up and down in the chorus and singing so loud. I love with both TWYG and FAPIPO how Paramore have it so the crowd sings "NO SIR..." blah blah behind Hayley and in FAPIPO the 'JUST TALK YOURSELF UP, AND TEAR YOURSELF DOWN' (basically most of the first verse). Ah love it so bad. FAPIPO sounded so good, i can't remember if they played it at Wembley so i was pumped to hear it live because it was one of my favourite songs off of Riot! when i first got it. And ofc, Emergency sounded amazing also. I love that with Paramore's setlist it's a real mix, it was really nice to hear AWKIF stuff even though its pretty much a given they'll put stuff like Emergency in because it's a single. Then came Playing God and Decode. Playing God got such a good reception, i think this is where Hayley went over to Josh and tapped him on the shoulder and then pointed to all of the crowd. cutie patooie. Decode ofc got a massive scream, Twilight effect for sure. Hayley's vocals were so tight on this, she sounded amazing the whole night. It annoys me when people criticise her for shouting or not taking care of her voice or whatever, because from what i could tell, when she needed to be, her voice was beautiful and she wasn't hoarse in the slightest. Haha, i loved hearing people attempting the really hard notes in Decode it reminds me of the 'FUUUUUUU' thing on tumblr of it.
I think the acoustic sesh was one of my favourite parts, so many amazing/good/beautiful moments. Sinead had texted me to say she heard they were playing 'Let This Go' on this tour instead of 'You Ain't Woman Enough'. I was so anticipating this, 'cause although i like their cover of it i don't think it would of suited the show. So, Hayley and Josh on a little box off of the stage with acoustic guitar. Again, Never Let This Go was one of my favourite songs off of AWKIF when i first got it, so i felt so grateful to be hearing it because i just assumed that i'd never really get to hear much AWKIF songs live because i joined pretty late in the game as a fan. I've got to say, it sounds even more beautiful acoustic. I nearly died when Hayley put her mic to Josh's guitar for the intro into it, siggggggh. She was amazing (again) on this, it felt so passionate and heartfelt. She got everyone clapping on the 'Leeeet thisssss gooooo' parts and it sounded so good with so many people. I loved how she's adapted the vocals on this song and improvs (kinda) a bit on it, i might regret committing to this but i can honestly say that is one of my favourite ever Paramore performances. So beautiful, and Josh looked into it. Then came the couch parts, i love this set up so much. It gave Hayley a chance to talk personally/intimately (well she makes it feel that way) about music. I loved her spiel on how music will always be there for everyone, and her talk of the importance of fans in her build-up before WTLO. I love Misguided Ghosts so much, it really is amazing live. There was a real cool atmosphere by this point, so everyone was singing really loud. Again, hearing everyone start a clap up felt amazing and made me smile hard again.
CRUSHCRUSHCRUSH. hello surprise cool moment. If i'm honest it's not one of my favourite songs off of Riot! but i generally like it more live. This time it was amazing. Just before Hayley done a speech that got everyone so pumped it was unbelievable, she went to both sides of the crowd and pretty much pointed out how everyone, standing and seating, were up and dancing and clapping. So good. Then came Pressure and Looking Up, pretty standard. And then TOE. Seriously, again, a really amazing and 'omg' moment. The 02 looked seriously so beautiful lit up everywhere with cameras, phones, lighters especially with everyone singing every word so loud. I found myself swaying without realising i'd begun haha. This ofc is my mum's favourite Paramore fan, so she was very happy.
ENCORE time. I love BBBB and Misery Business as encore songs. By this point everyone was singing back louder than ever. It's really satisfying shouting 'BADABABABADABA' out-loud with a crowd. There was a lot of clapping/dancing (Jeremy's BBBB dancing 4eva <3). Ah all of Paramore looked so smiley and happy all night, loved it. I was sad it was ending but Misery Business was class. I wasn't that bothered about Josh being there from YM@6 but whatever, again it was amazing. haha i also loved the way Hayley introduced it, it took me a second to catch on, she was like "We still have some BUSINESS to attend to' or something along those lines and i was like wut...OHHHH. Taylor on drums is so qt, and so is all of their general bouncing/running round stage. then THE END. Massive cheer as they all bowed, ngl pretty emotional haha. Jeremy and Hayley running round stage giving high fives was also cuteness overload.
OMG THIS IS SO LONG, SORRY. ANYWAYS I GOT ON THE TRAIN HOME AND ROLLED IN TO MY BED ABOUT 2AM. KTHANXBYE.