All Time Low, Polar Bear Club, Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! @ The Factory, Sydney (25/02/2013)
Fresh from their appearances at Soundwave Brisbane and Sydney, All Time Low took to the stage at the sold out and packed out Factory Theatre on a rather humid Monday night. Their pop punk music and entertaining if somewhat immature stage banter (but then who doesn't like a good dick joke) kept the crowd and venue staff entertained for the evening.
Perhaps an odd choice for an opening band, Chunk! No Captain, Chunk! kept the gradually growing crowd entertained with their high-energy music and stage show. Their pop-core or melodic hardcore style, quite similar to A Day To Remember and Four Year Strong, started a mosh amongst the crowd despite their early timeslot. The bands set list covered songs from their previous album as well as several tracks off their upcoming album, Pardon My French, and their cover of Ke$ha's We R Who We R from the 2011 Punk Goes Pop 4.
Polar Bear Club was up next with a mix of pop punk and several heavier, post-hardcore songs that created a perfect bridge between Chunk! No Captain, Chunk! and All Time Low’s musical styles. With a reasonable number of fans singing along to the band and a fair few faces that were recognized by vocalist Jimmy Stadt, the band played off the crowds enthusiam. Playing a mix of songs from across their albums, combined with the band’s high-energy and interactive stage show, they managed to keep the crowd entertained while they waited for All Time Low, as well as building up the energy levels of the venue throughout their set.
With only a small break for their gear setup and the growing anticipation of the crowd, All Time Low rushed out onto the stage to the screams and cheers of the packed venue. Their set kicked off with Somewhere In Neverland from their recent album Don't Panic and Forget About It from Dirty Work, which worked the crowd up into a frenzy of dancing and cheering. Their set continued with songs from both their new and older albums that everyone in the crowd knew all the words to and kept up perfectly with the band.
Unfortunately just over halfway through their set, and stating issues with his guitar (although later on Twitter mentioning the humidity and his recent flu getting to him) Alex Gaskarth left the stage for a while. However, in keeping with the band's high school beginning, they brought a member of the crowd who ended up being Luke McChesney of local Sydney band Forever Ends Here to join the band and Jamie Preciado of Pierce The Veil performing covers of Blink 182's Dammit and All The Small Things.
After returning to the stage with apologies for his absence, Alex led the crowd in a beautiful sing along of two of their most emotional songs; Remembering Sunday and Therapy. Despite both songs opening only with Alex's guitar and vocals, the energy of the venue never dropped and both the crowd and the band thrived off the emotional moment of the show.
Their set finished off with Lost In Stereo and Time Bomb, which saw the crowd backing into jumping, moshing and the occasional crowd surfer. Both songs were definite crowd pleasers of the night, with the crowd’s energy peaking whilst they were being playing. At the conclusion of the songs, All Time Low left the stage for a minute, letting the crowd scream and cheer for an encore, which was of course played.
The two-song encore of Weightless and Dear Maria, Count Me In, both of which have been consistently played at their gigs for years and are known by their fans worldwide. Weightless saw guitarist Jack Barakat claiming his rights to piggy backs from bassist Zack Merrick while Alex dealt with demands of wearing the silk Australian flag boxers that had been thrown up on stage earlier along with the stream of bras that are tossed up on stage at all of their shows. Dear Maria, Count Me In saw a further build in the energy of the venue, with Alex and Jack passing their guitars off to their ever-present tour manager and their guitar tech in order to free themselves for riling up and the crowd and stealing a couple of drummer, Rian Dawson’s sticks and taking it upon themselves to add to the drums for the song’s ending.
While only playing to a sold out crowd of under 500 people, the energy and volume of the crowd rivaled that of the crowd at their Sydney Soundwave set which was easily five times the size. Overall, the night captured the fun and liveliness of shows in arena sized venues and was a perfect ending to All Time Low’s time in Sydney.
Bethany Williams
Check out our photos from the night here!
Perhaps an odd choice for an opening band, Chunk! No Captain, Chunk! kept the gradually growing crowd entertained with their high-energy music and stage show. Their pop-core or melodic hardcore style, quite similar to A Day To Remember and Four Year Strong, started a mosh amongst the crowd despite their early timeslot. The bands set list covered songs from their previous album as well as several tracks off their upcoming album, Pardon My French, and their cover of Ke$ha's We R Who We R from the 2011 Punk Goes Pop 4.
Polar Bear Club was up next with a mix of pop punk and several heavier, post-hardcore songs that created a perfect bridge between Chunk! No Captain, Chunk! and All Time Low’s musical styles. With a reasonable number of fans singing along to the band and a fair few faces that were recognized by vocalist Jimmy Stadt, the band played off the crowds enthusiam. Playing a mix of songs from across their albums, combined with the band’s high-energy and interactive stage show, they managed to keep the crowd entertained while they waited for All Time Low, as well as building up the energy levels of the venue throughout their set.
With only a small break for their gear setup and the growing anticipation of the crowd, All Time Low rushed out onto the stage to the screams and cheers of the packed venue. Their set kicked off with Somewhere In Neverland from their recent album Don't Panic and Forget About It from Dirty Work, which worked the crowd up into a frenzy of dancing and cheering. Their set continued with songs from both their new and older albums that everyone in the crowd knew all the words to and kept up perfectly with the band.
Unfortunately just over halfway through their set, and stating issues with his guitar (although later on Twitter mentioning the humidity and his recent flu getting to him) Alex Gaskarth left the stage for a while. However, in keeping with the band's high school beginning, they brought a member of the crowd who ended up being Luke McChesney of local Sydney band Forever Ends Here to join the band and Jamie Preciado of Pierce The Veil performing covers of Blink 182's Dammit and All The Small Things.
After returning to the stage with apologies for his absence, Alex led the crowd in a beautiful sing along of two of their most emotional songs; Remembering Sunday and Therapy. Despite both songs opening only with Alex's guitar and vocals, the energy of the venue never dropped and both the crowd and the band thrived off the emotional moment of the show.
Their set finished off with Lost In Stereo and Time Bomb, which saw the crowd backing into jumping, moshing and the occasional crowd surfer. Both songs were definite crowd pleasers of the night, with the crowd’s energy peaking whilst they were being playing. At the conclusion of the songs, All Time Low left the stage for a minute, letting the crowd scream and cheer for an encore, which was of course played.
The two-song encore of Weightless and Dear Maria, Count Me In, both of which have been consistently played at their gigs for years and are known by their fans worldwide. Weightless saw guitarist Jack Barakat claiming his rights to piggy backs from bassist Zack Merrick while Alex dealt with demands of wearing the silk Australian flag boxers that had been thrown up on stage earlier along with the stream of bras that are tossed up on stage at all of their shows. Dear Maria, Count Me In saw a further build in the energy of the venue, with Alex and Jack passing their guitars off to their ever-present tour manager and their guitar tech in order to free themselves for riling up and the crowd and stealing a couple of drummer, Rian Dawson’s sticks and taking it upon themselves to add to the drums for the song’s ending.
While only playing to a sold out crowd of under 500 people, the energy and volume of the crowd rivaled that of the crowd at their Sydney Soundwave set which was easily five times the size. Overall, the night captured the fun and liveliness of shows in arena sized venues and was a perfect ending to All Time Low’s time in Sydney.
Bethany Williams
Check out our photos from the night here!