Hayley Williams and Co. deliver a legendary performance at Rod Laver Arena, leaving fans craving for more.
Following a career history-making headline show at Sydney’s The Domain over the weekend, playing to a whopping 50,000 Anklebiters (an endearing term coined for the Paramore fandom based on the 2013 track), Melbourne felt the pressure to turn on for Paramore in their trio of shows.
As the last leg of their global This Is Why tour, Melbourne submitted evidence on night one that they were worthy of the final curtain honour but night two offered proof that after nearly 20 years, we are still into Paramore.
Keep up with the latest music news, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
The epic epilogue started with Remi Wolf who not only got the crowd pumped for Hayley Williams, Zac Farro, Taylor York and co, but also for the festive season, launching into her set via the jingles of Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’. The Palo Alto former American Idol contestant, grooved her way through a shortstack of hits including ‘Liquor Store’, ‘Sexy Villian’ and ‘Liz’ before serving some samples of ‘Pink + White’ from Frank Ocean and weaving Shaggy’s ‘It Wasn’t Me’ into her fitting song ‘Shawty’. Having offered revision to the oversized opener ‘You First’ on the re: This Is Why album, Wolf had already won over the Parafamily, but by the time the double dip of dance tracks, ‘Disco Man’ and the Dominic Fike collaboration ‘Photo ID’, roller doored the set to a close, the audience were taken by the songwriter.
As the mass of Anklebiters swarmed back into the stadium post changeover all donning Paramore tagged merchandise, the lights went down and a familiar Nashville voice swelled the space. A spoken word recording titled ‘Grey Area (Note To Self)’ was echoed into eager ears by fierce frontwoman, Hayley Williams. The band emerged into the final “enough” spoken loop, Williams fist-pumping into place as the two note drops of ‘You First’ catapulted us into a colossal two hour set. The GA area jumped along to Farro’s ferocious beat, the most lively I’ve witnessed a crowd in this space this year which only elevated throughout the entire 120 minutes in stride with Williams incessant feet and highkicks. The confetti cannons are fired to signal the start of the music marathon. As per the song order of this year’s monster album, ‘The News’ followed with guttural gusto from William’s as she screamed through the pertinent lyrics.
View this post on Instagram
Transporting the crowd back to Riot territory, the band erupt into the heart attack opening of ‘That’s What You Get’, Williams leading with “Well no sir” with the crowd taking over vocal duty, piercingly. Pre-chorus she instructs with might, “Melbourne, let’s do this fucking thing”, spearheading a starjumping session. William’s pocket rocket energy, unparalleled presence and powerhouse vocals are infectious, with the crowd meeting her every command. She simmers things down slightly for Brand New Eyes slow build ‘Playing God’ but the long term stans stay with her belt by belt.
“Are we in Melbourne? I was confused because I thought we were in Melbourne last night but you guys, you seem a little louder than that Melbourne. Are you sure this is the same place?” Williams questions.
“Alright it’s good to be back. How are you feeling tonight? How are you guys that we saw last night and we’ve seen many many nights before? You’re just not finished yet, you’re not finished with us. Thank you!” She laughs. “I’m going to tell you, like I told the Melbourne of last night, this is your space inside these walls, this is your night. We’ve got two hours together, okay!”
She goes on to deliver a genuine pep talk about the concert being a safe space for every single person and a judgement free zone for dancing, ending on “Well Melbourne, we love you, let’s do this – We’re Paramore baby!” It introduces ‘Caught In The Middle’, where William’s whips out her signature choreography during the playful bridge.
Taking a break to warm up the crowd’s voices, Williams conducts a vocal run exercise with the crowd, playing around with impossible notes and deep Brad Garret tones, ultimately showing off her Godly range. She jokes that it is a low key, to which the crowd explodes in response “No pressure, just hang with me and my weather”. She does it again, and a third time, asking the band “Do we have the right key”. Together they steamroll into ‘Rose-Coloured Boy’. Rose-coloured glasses are whipped across patron faces, with Williams gifted a pair that she immediately put on. She is also showered in roses from a fan that she picks up and swirls with, seamlessly transitioning in and out of Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance WIth Somebody’. The track is followed by another fun addition, ‘Running Out of Time’.
Phones are to the front for this next Twilight timebomb. ‘Decode’ is met by headbanging of red and curled locks from both Williams and York, respectively, from stage level and the sea of standers. The crushing crescendo is hit effortlessly by William’s, an envious quality. This is transitioned into sweet moments between the couple and the crowd. Reaching into their self-titled album, they melt into empowering ‘Last Hope’, phone lights illuminating the arena, singalongs are coordinated and York slowly walks towards Williams to share a sweet forehead pressing moment during the final hums. ‘Big Man, Little Dignity’ hits next with Williams cooly striding around the stage, exiting stage right at the end of the tune.
The golden trio of Williams, York and Farro reappear, elevated on a platform, a screen of clouds behind them. They slow-cook ‘Liar’ and Williams solo track ‘Crystal Clear’ with an extended outro, for a gentle moment amidst the uncaged stadium stamina. They return back to the main stage in a giant leap for ‘Hard Times’ with a snippet of Men At Work’s ‘Land Down Under’. She leads a singalong into another delicate snapshot for love song ‘The Only Exception’. In this magical moment a punter took their opportunity to propose.
Another newbie in the form of ‘Crave’ blew through the arena, with Williams’ powerful pipes yet again on full display reaching unworldly heights. Her voice takes a slight break, as drummer Farro fronts the band, presenting ‘Baby’ from his side project HalfNoise.
“It was a time of Myspace, eyeliner, white belts – that was a deep cut,” Williams prefaces ahead of the game-changing anthem ‘Misery Business’ a song that is met with uninhibited enthusiasm. Limbs flailed, voices vibrated and necks seesawed violently. In Paramore tradition, Hayley sorted through the crowd for a Miz Biz contender, bringing to the stage a 21 time returning fan, Hannah, to belt out the bridge and final riot chorus. She suffered a mic-hit to the mouth but ultimately excelled in her duties.
To close out an epic main set, choral climax ‘Ain’t It Fun’ and ‘Thick Skull’, a track that had only just premiered on the setlist in New Zealand, lifted Paramore’s position to legendary status with a shattering prog instrumental dipping the band out.
Following a projected iPhone montage of This Is Why documentation, the golden trio and their incredible touring band, whom William’s claimed are “the best in the business”, returned to the stage for final blows ‘Still Into You’ and ‘This Is Why’. Fire, streamers and confetti went without a hitch on this evening and finished off part two of their mammoth tour bookend. Gathering around the drums for the final beat, Williams pumps the mic high in the air, throwing in up to cut the final slice.
This is why we love Paramore and now we’re left craving to do it all again.
