Live Review

All Time Low – Brixton Academy

• 8th Mar 2014

When All Time Low hit the stage in Brixton I was confused for a minute. I totally thought I’d stumbled into a One Direction concert based solely on the volume of the screaming girls in the audience. However, once they burst into their bouncy rendition of Do You Want Me (Dead?) it was clear these boys aren’t solely good looks and hair flicks (although there is plenty of that too) and that they know their way around an instrument or two.

The energy was high from the minute they took to the stage and they barely let up until about halfway through their set. The band were hyped, the crowd were hyped and the stage was littered with bras. As my companion for the evening rightly pointed out “it’s not really the right kind of gig to take your bra off… it’s a bit jumpy!” She wasn’t wrong, in fact, it was very jumpy and I can only hope there were no girls with fuller busts going braless near the stage so she wouldn’t cause harm to herself or those around her.

After the huge crescendo of Weightless, the crowd could barely take any more so down went the lights and out came the acoustic guitar. This respite was brief though as they cranked the excitement straight back up again with Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don’t).

With the addition of a couple of cover versions in the encore, Green Day’s American Idiot and Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ they round the night off with a crowd storming rendition of Dear Maria. With that sweaty youngsters went off into the night complete with aching faces from smiling and sore throats from screaming back every lyric, disappearing into the crowd of parents hanging around outside the venue.

Venue: Brixton Academy
Support Band: Tonight Alive, Only Rivals