A Day To Remember bring their house party to Ally Pally and blow the roof off

The rise and rise of A Day To Remember is a feat almost unheard of these days in alternative circles. The only band that seems to have captivated audiences around the world to the same level from this new breed are our own Bring Me The Horizon. That said, it’s clear to see the appeal of ADTR.

 The Story So Far / Every Time I Die / Mallory Knox / A Day To Remember Alexandra Palace, 12.02.14

Huge choruses, bigger breakdowns and an overlying message of fun, the band have grown from the toilet circuit to this, their biggest headline show ever at the enormous Alexandra Palace. And bloody hell, what a show it was. As always, ADTR have brought a stellar undercard to kick off the proceedings. First up, everyone’s favourite new pop punkers: The Story So Far. Although the Californians are obviously more at home on smaller stages than this, they already proved they can step up to the Ally Pally stage on the 2012 Warped Tour. Tonight, with no stage show, the songs speak for themselves as they get the early arrivers going with tracks from ‘Under Soil And Dirt’ and ‘What You Don’t See’.  A huge rendition of ‘Quicksand’ ends their set and hopefully gains them some new fans in this early slot. A band entirely deserving of more fans (and a higher billing tonight) are Buffalo’s finest sons, Every Time I Die. Finding it seemingly impossible not to bring it every time, the mosh’n’rollers proceed to devastate Ally Pally, raining riffs and all hell over a baying crowd. Nine songs, no bullshit and a commanding presence throughout, Every Time I Die can’t lose tonight. From the opening onslaught of ‘No Son of Mine’ and ‘We’rewolf’, through a ripper of a new song and live favourites ‘The New Black’ and ‘Bored Stiff’, to new favourite ‘Typical Miracle’ and old bruisers ‘Floater’ and ‘Ebolarama’ the band seamlessly tear through to their final furious song, ‘Underwater Bimbos From outer Space’ with aplomb. It’s all over too soon and with any justice, they would have been higher on the bill. Oh and Keith, I want your beard, hair and jacket. Thanks.

Every Time I Die

Despite my ranting about the billing of tonight’s show, it is great to see emerging homegrown talent placing so high on a show of this scale, especially if they’re as talented as Mallory Knox. They have the songs and the know how and if the reaction of the thousands of screaming girls in the crowd is anything to go by, I might just be old and over cynical thinking that they should be lower on the bill. Songs like ‘Beggars’ and ‘Lighthouse’ shine through and the band are as tight as can be. It’s a solid set that, although not firing on all cylinders, promises much for the future.

Mallory Knox 

Even with such a solid support bill, tonight is really only about one band for 99% of the crowd here. An intro video plays, showing the rest of the band telling front man Jeremy McKInnon that their having a house party tonight and that ADTR are playing. Jeremy, clearly not ready for this tells the boys they have to go out and practice in the garage. The curtain drops and the band come out swinging as the garage door opens at the front of a full-scale house front (!) and they smash into ‘All I Want’. It’s difficult not to laugh in disbelief as fire and fireworks surround the house and each member of the band takes their turn standing on the first level of the house on top of the garage. It would be easy to not mention any songs in this review and still tell you how amazing it was, but when there’s choice cuts like ‘2
^nd Sucks’ and ‘City of Ocala’ on offer, we might as well mention them eh? After cancelling a show earlier in the week, it’s clear that Jeremy’s voice isn’t 100% and he probably finds the acoustic part of the set including ‘If It Means A Lot To You’ a relief as the house is bathed in twinkling lights from behind. Throughout, we’re treated to some choice heavy cuts like ‘Mr Highway’s Thinking About The End’ and ‘Life Lessons Learned The Hard Way’ as well as lighter moments heard on ‘Have Faith in Me’ and ‘My Life For Hire’. Oldie ‘You Should Have Killed Me When You Had The Chance’ gets an airing and ‘The Plot to Blow the Panhandle’ rounds off their main set in a classic fashion. A duff intro tape almost ruins ‘Downfall of Us All’, but the band battle through and end the show on a high note surrounded by fans on the stage before the house party inevitably gets broken up. So let’s just go through some of the visual highlights from tonight. First of all, there’s a fucking
house on stage, all manner of pyrotechnics, Santa’s firing t-shirt cannons, Jeremy running over the crowd in a zorb ball and by the end of the ‘house party’ there are two cop cars, numerous officers and a HELICOPTER on the stage, breaking up the party. The scale of this show is just absurd and though the band probably know it, they can be safe in the knowledge that they wowed everyone tonight.

ADTR's Jeremy McKinnon zorbing across the Ally Pally Crowd 

This was a show of epic proportions and it was a pleasure to witness it in the flesh. If you did miss it however, there will be a live DVD on it’s way soon so you can relive this extremely special occasion again and again. 9/10  

COMMENTS

• Emily Kyne
  Massively jealous, this show looked absolutely ace. Great review!