Paramore @ OVO Hydro, Glasgow, 17 April
Paramore return to Glasgow with a stadium-sized show packed with intimate moments
Though Paramore have a markedly youthful energy, they’ve lived through many eras and creative evolutions, leaving them an impressive eighteen-year back catalogue to draw from. Tonight, they do a solid job overall catering to fans both new and old.
Both camps are warmly welcomed into what frontwoman Hayley Williams cheekily describes as a “dysfunctional” family – similar sentiment from another might risk seeming trite in a packed stadium, but from Williams it feels genuinely heartfelt. Throughout the night there are a few instances of people fainting in the huge crowd, with the band happily pausing their performance immediately each time. “We just want to make sure everyone is safe out there”, Hayley relays.
During one such moment, Ain't It Fun cuts out near its climax, and as Hayley returns to the mic she asks if we can pick up where we left off. Treating us to a rousing acapella outro, her raw powerhouse vocals, stripped bare, reverberate around the Hydro to rapturous cheers. Moments like these tonight – a sea of phone torches illuminating sweet love song The Only Exception, or an acoustic cover of historic Glasgow band Orange Juice where Hayley confesses nervousness without her bandmates by her side – evoke the intimacies of a much smaller gig, but blown up to stadium-size.
Williams' showmanship of course propels the show tonight – she shimmies, saunters, and dances across the stage with a hard-earned confidence. At one point existing somewhere between theatrics and athletics she repeatedly high-kicks, later dropping to the floor with dramatic flair. Yet her natural charisma doesn’t outshine bandmates Zac Farro and Taylor York on drums and guitar respectively, nor their touring band members. Each is fully on form and in tune with one another in a way that appears near-effortless.
However, at times (notwithstanding the unpredictability of crowd incidents) the pacing feels slightly stop and start, with intervals between songs more noticeable than not. Compounding this, it seems at times that just as crowd momentum is in full force with fan favourite anthems, the moment is punctured by more downtempo, slower-paced jams following directly after.
Nevertheless, when it’s good, it’s great. Toward tonight’s end, formative anthem Misery Business is undoubtedly a standout moment. As the song approaches its rousing finale, Hayley draws out a fan (impressively, at her twenty-third Paramore gig) and brings her up on stage with the band to belt out the bridge and final verse. “For the next twenty seconds, this is your show”, Hayley tells her before the fan in question delivers a genuinely impressive rendition, in what is sure to be a life-altering moment.
While those twenty seconds were hers, the rest feel like they’re all ours. “You are Paramore”, Williams calls out into the crowd, and tonight it feels like we truly are.