All Time Low Takes Over Their Hometown With A Sold Out Show

All Time Low
May 24, 2015
Pier Six Pavilion- Baltimore, MD

        Sunday, May 24th, a sunny and breezy day here in the Harbor of Baltimore. It was a nice day, considering there were so many events such as the Hare Krishna Festival and A SOLD OUT Hometown show of Baltimore Natives All Time Low. Beautiful night for a concert.
Kicking off the night was State Champs, who are a  pop-punk quintet from Albany, N.Y. The band is made up of Derek DiScanio (Vocals) , Tyler Szalkowski (Guitar) , Ryan Scott Graham (Bass), Tony Diaz (Guitar) and Evan Ambrosio (Drums). State Champs have supported bands on many smaller tours, played on the Vans Warped Tour last summer and co-headlined their very first U.S. tour last fall. Being on the Future Hearts Tour is a bit of an achievement for State Champs because this is their largest U.S. tour, not including Warped Tour. Despite being the smallest band on the tour fan-wise, State Champs definitely gained a good couple handfuls of new fans that night. They kicked off the show by immediately bursting into their top popular songs consisting of Nothing’s Wrong, Deadly Conversation and Simple Existence. Vocalist Derek DiScanio definitely proved that he knows how to entertain a pavilion full of fans and kept the crowd jumping off their feet and had them screaming with his energetic performance as he ran across the stage, side to side as he also interacted with band mates and fans alike. By the end of their set, State Champs had the entire seating area and lawn area off of their feet, chanting fist bumping, jumping and singing along; there was never a dull moment during the band’s set. Ending with the song Elevated off their debut album, The Finer Things. State Champs’s performance had set the mood for the rest of the entire night and the crowd was left sweating, out of breath and amped up as they gave up the stage for the next act, Tonight Alive

Australian pop-punk band Tonight Alive took the stage as the second act of the night, which consisted of a huge roar of screams as the five piece took the stage. Led by front woman, Jenna McDougall, Tonight Alive consists of Whakaio Taahi (Guitar) , Jake Hardy (Guitar) , Cam Adler (Bass) and Matty Best (Drums). They’re often compared to very well known bands, who also have front woman such as Paramore and We are the In Crowd. Tonight Alive definitely went through so much judgment from others who did not think that another female-fronted band could make it in the pop-punk scene but Tonight Alive definitely TONIGHTALIVE9proved them wrong. Seven years have passed since their formation in 2008 and the band has gone above and beyond expectations, playing major music festivals such as Warped Tour, Reading and Leeds and their Australian festival, Soundwave Festival but also featured on many headlining tours as well as being supports on major headlining tours. Screams filled the arena as Tonight Alive came out on stage and it did not take much for the crowd to become completely into the first song as they opened their set with one of their popular single’s, Lonely Girl.  Tonight Alive also played a energy filled song called The Fire, which had fans singing along for the duration of the song and jumping off their feet as they screamed the words back to McDougall. The band played other well-known songs such as The Ocean and The Edge, which just so happened to be featured on the Amazing Spiderman 2 soundtrack, believe it or not.  As a whole, Tonight Alive had an incredible stage presence, as usual. Jenna McDougall was very interactive with the crowd during their set; she would slide down onto her knees during parts of songs, held her microphone out to the crowd, urging them to sing as loud as they possibly could and also gave mini inspirational talks during the breaks in between songs. Second-to-last song of their set was What Are You So Scared Of? Jenna McDougall asked the crowd, “What are you so scared of Baltimore?” she also had everyone repeat after her,  “From this day, I refuse to live in fear of someone else’s judgment”, making sure knew fans that Tonight Alive’s music serves as a safe place for those who listen to it, and should be judgment free.
Based on the amount of engagement and energy during their set, Tonight Alive had proved that they are a force to be reckoned with, clearly showing that the band has grown so much since their days as newcomers, and I say that in a positive way.

Following Tonight Alive’s performance was Issues, a six-piece metal core/nu-metal hybrid band from Atlanta, G.A. made up of Tyler Carter (Vocals), Michael Bohn (Unclean Vocals), AJ Rebollo (Guitar), Skyler Acord (Bass), Josh Manuel (Drums).  Alternative Press Magazine labeled them as “the future of metal core”. Issues has always been known for their unique sound which takes the traditional sound of metal and post-hardcore and mashes them together, also by injecting parts of R&B and hip-hop into the mix as well. For this tour, Issues chose to give a massive ode to Pokémon, by fully customizing everything (and I mean everything) to fit the theme. Their banner featured all of the members drawn out as anime-style versions of themselves in the style of Pokémon. Their amps/subs were completely decorated in bright neon lights and were a custom design to look like the Pokémon game cartridges from the Gameboy Advanced,  featuring Pikachu, Charizard and Blastoise and their drum kit was customized in the font that usually spells out Pokémon, but instead of Pokémon, it was Issues. Issues wasn’t that band to spend so much time talking and giving speeches between songs; they really stuck to playing their energetic set. Vocalists Tyler Carter and Michael Bohn who both interacted with their fans kept the crowd hyped up as they led the band though some of their most popular songs such as Never Lose Your Flames, Mad at Myself and an old time fan favorite, Princeton Ave, featuring Derek DiScanio, who happened to join them on this song as it was the third song in their set.
For their final song of the set, the band launched into a rendition of one of their stand alone singles, Hooligans. As their time onstage came to an end, the last few lines of the song were chanted throughout the wild crowd, “Hooligans, got big hearts but they’re just some kids. Cali made, flashy sins. Need nobody ’cause we know where we fit in.” Issues gave one of the most energetic performances of the night, the pavilion and lawn areas were filled with a chatter and energy, all pumped up for All Time Low to hit the stage.ATL21

As the signature All Time Low concert banner dropped, featuring a skull and crossbones to censor out the word f*ck, the room erupted into a roar of screaming and screeching teenage girls. Roughly around 9pm the lights throughout the pavilion went out, it was pitch black. All of a sudden flashing rays of white lights and also shimmering lights took over the stage as the band came out, with a somewhat long intro of the opening song. Since the tour was named after the band’s newest album, it only seemed appropriate that they begin their set with the live debut of Satellite, the first track off their newest record Future Hearts, which was released in April.
Playing a range of songs from their entire discography, which included old school songs like Lost in Stereo as the third song of night. Alex Gaskarth, with the help of drummer Rian Dawson, bassist Zack Merrick and guitarist Jack Barakat, had the crowd off their feet and singing along at the top of their lungs, word for word. All throughout the show, bras were being thrown onto the stage, (which is an odd tradition at most All Time Low shows), and were collected by Jack Barakat on his microphone stand. After their closing song, Something’s Gotta Give, during which the confetti cannons fired heaps and heaps of confetti into in the crowd, the arena filled with chants as fans begged for more. We all know that when it’s the end of tour, opening bands usually crash a set etc etc, but at this show, members of Tonight Alive, including Matty Best, Whakaio Taahi and Jake Hardy and one member of State Champs, Ryan Graham, took over the stage in nothing but their underwear and had the YMCA letters on each of them. The whole crowd went wild and everyone started to participate in singing the old party song, The YMCA who is by the Village People. The night ended with cheers from the crowd and more confetti.
All Time Low has certainly proved that they are still one of the number one bands in the pop-punk scene, which has the most dedicated fan base that they have accumulated over the last 10 years or so . The release of Future Hearts only brought more fans and success for the band and it’s clear that All Time Low is not going anywhere anytime soon, so please beware.
Review by: Alyssa Howell

All Time Low

Issues

Tonight Alive

State Champs