Entertainment Tonight
With rapidly rising acts We Are The In Crowd and The Maine having finished their support slots, headliners All Time Low made their way onto O2 Birmingham 1's stage to the sound of a ticking bomb. As the Baltimore boys burst into their opener Time Bomb, the fans' squeals climaxed and the room exploded in a frenzy of red lights and yellow strobes.
Although the pop punkers remain as a quartet in identity, drummer Rian Dawson is flanked by two additional musicians for this tour. To his right, a characterless touring guitarist, whose job is clearly to just stay out of the limelight and play the parts that would normally be assigned to guitarist Jack Barakat. Although rock trios like Feeder and Green Day have bolstered their live line-ups with session guitarists in order to replicate the fuller sounds that they achieved in their studio products, All Time Low's music rarely requires three guitars and the decision comes across as an abandonment of their dedication as musicians in favour of toying with the crowd in the name of entertainment. To Dawson's left is the band's tour manager Matt Flyzik, whose musical contributions only consists of sporadic gang vocals. Flyzik's other responsibility for the tour (for some puzzling reason) is to document the exact start and finish time for each song and, as a result, the supernumerary member seemed to spend more time scribbling on a piece of paper than he did singing. What will the band bring with them next time? A whole band to play their music for them and a secretary to minute every cry of admiration thrown at them from the adoring crowd?
However the presence of these two supporting musicians does little to affect the excited fans, with the floor transforming into a sea of bouncing bodies as the band begins Damned If I Do Ya, Damned If I Don't. Despite frontman Alex Gaskarth calling for a sizeable moshpit for following song Coffee Shop Soundtrack, the request was met with a shamefully lame attempt.
The headliners reeled off a solid set of hits, covering crowd-pleasing singles including I Feel Like Dancin' and Poppin' Champagne, whilst also taking the chance to showcase more recent material like the spirited song Heroes. In typical All Time Low fashion, the superstars' songs were divided by playful chatter and stories of rebellious immaturity, much to the amusement of the fans. Gaskarth took the opportunity to tell of a past incident in which he put a ham sandwich in his computer during an uninspiring Music Technology classes. Not exactly a great advertisement for American education.
Favoured Dirty Work track Guts was preceded by a chorus of Adele's Someone Like You, proving to be surprisingly popular amongst the teenage audience. Before reaching the set's scheduled pre-encore departure, Gaskarth is left alone, armed only with an acoustic guitar to beautifully deliver their touching ballad Remembering Sunday. As the fans await the return of the quartet, the giant LED backdrop (often bearing their three letter acronym "ATL") changed to "SEX", unashamedly teasing their hormonally-overloaded fanbase.
Concluding their performance with Dear Maria, Count Me In, the Maryland foursome wrapped up another tight, entertaining performance. Whether their heartthrob status attracts or repels you, All Time Low's musical ability cannot be denied; bearing competency and consistency to back the reputation that this pop punk outfit has rightly established.