Live Review - Paramore, Manchester Evening News Arena, 19/11/10

Paramore have gone through something of a transition in recent years. Having gone from playing more intimate venues in the UK to headlining the biggest has been imminent since the release of their 2006 breakthrough single ‘Misery Business’.

Paramore enter the stage tonight to a rapturous welcome and open with the first single from Brand New Eyes, ‘Ignorance’. From there they play a glorious hit after hit set bouncing from ‘That’s What You Get’ to ‘For a Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic’ and ‘Feeling Sorry’.

The band are highly charged and rarely stop for breath. Hayley Williams in particular is a force of nature strutting around the stage much to the delight of tonight’s mainly teenage crowd. Taking tips from the likes of Gwen Stefani, Williams’ onstage performance is nothing if not energetic. 

A break from the high speed performance gives way to a great acoustic performance of slower songs including ‘Let This Go’ from 2005’s debut album All We Know Is Falling, and a new rendition of Where The Lines Overlap. We are also treated to a delightful acoustic version of a song which Hayley says is written about the UK, ‘When it Rains’.

The only difference between the Paramore that appear on the stage tonight and the little known pop punk band that graced the stage of Manchester’s Academy 3 over four years ago, is that tonight’s Paramore know what a huge crowd expects.

Whether or not this fact is to the detriment of their set is arguable. The acoustic interlude lasted longer than necessary and songs such as Misguided Ghosts brought nothing to the dynamic of the show. It would have been preferable for the band to play more hits in the time that was spent playing the crowd. But maybe that’s what’s expected when your crowd is more than sixty per cent children.