Live: A Day To Remember

Headliner: A Day To Remember
Support: The Story So Far, Every Time I Die, Mallory Knox
Where: Alexandra Palace, London
When: 12th February 2014
Reviewed By: Dan Stoten

The talk pre-gig had all been about Jeremy McKinnon, and the 'will-they won't-they' nature of the gig, following A Day To Remember cancelling their date in Cardiff a matter of days earlier. There was, however, a certain level of reassurance given when the band announced that they would be recording a live DVD in London, and further when Jeremy himself tweeted this fact on the day of the gig.

An excited buzz hung over the huge queue outside Alexandra Palace when I arrived. It was easy to see why, the gig's line-up not looking out of place as a group of festival headliners. Following a fairly brief, yet intensively cold period of waiting, we were whisked inside, to catch opening act The Story So Far. Regular readers will know how much we wax lyrical about this band. Without boring you too much, once again, the Californian five-piece performed brilliantly. Whipping through All Wrong, Empty Space, Roam and of course Quicksand, the band seemed genuinely honoured to be on stage and had that endearing naivety back. This was TSSF at their best, and their set went down exceptionally well with the quickly growing (and hugely passionate) audience.

Every Time I Die came next, and absolutely tore the face off everyone in the huge venue. Here are a hardcore band who, as I noted at the time, know how to make a fucking load of noise.  This noise is hugely aggressive, hugely impassioned, and fundamentally hugely likeable. I am ashamed to say this was the first time I had actually listened to the New York five-piece, but I found myself really enjoying the absolute abandon with which they threw themselves around the stage. Clearly very popular with the audience, this was a second good warm up for the main act.

The final support act of the night was Mallory Knox, a band perhaps marginally out of place on this raucous line-up. On CD, I really like the Cambridge rockers, yet have always been left slightly cold when seeing them live. Unfortunately, the Ally Pally set was no different. I'm not quite sure what it is: indeed, they're basically note-perfect, they do everything a band should do on stage, and their songs are undeniably catchy. For me, though, they're perhaps a little too polished. I tweeted at the time (@thepunkarchive) that Mallory Knox are one of the tightest and most polished bands on the UK rock circuit, which I stand by: but this is not necessarily a good thing. They are perhaps missing that edge as a live proposition which makes a good band great. As ever, though, Lighthouse prompted a huge singalong and plenty of movement to warm the crowd up for what was about to come.

It was, however, impossible to prepare a crowd for what was about to come.

I have been to lots of gigs. Lots and lots. But not one compares to what I witnessed from A Day to Remember.

To try and explain it: essentially, the gig told the story of a house party, thrown by the ADTR lads (Kevin in particular). Their set opened with a short film being played of Jeremy being surprised by the party, insisting the band members go and practice in the garage. At this point, the curtain dropped, and the audience was presented with a stage setting the like I have not seen at a concert before. It was a house.

The garage door came up, and A Day to Remember strode out.

What followed was a blur. We had pyrotechnics. We had Santas on stage. We had genuine crowdsurfing, where people crowdsurfed as usual, but with people standing on their backs. We had Jeremy in a giant ball running over the crowd. We had the band running all over the stage, with them playing on the 'first floor roof' the set allowed. Towards the end, we had police. We had bangs, fire and paper confetti. We had cars. We had a helicopter. Yes, a helicopter. By this point, the only surprise was that it wasn't a real one, only a model...


We also had some music.

It was pretty clear that Jeremy's voice was not completely healed following his throat infection earlier in the week, but other than that, this was a perfect performance from the band. They perfectly judged their setlist, playing the right mix of old and new, even going right back to a track from Old Record, as well as whipping through City of Ocala and Right Back At It Again from latest album Common Courtesy. Although Jeremy's screams weren't perhaps as guttural and deep as they would usually be, this was more than made up for by the crowd, and his bandmates boosting the roars.

The overriding sense I got from the gig was one of a huge amount of pure, simple and innocent fun. This was a band living their childhood dreams out right in front of 10,000 people's adorin
g eyes. They scampered mischievously around that spellbinding stage, loving every minute. This translated into the delivery of each song: every one delivering a jubilant slab of pure punk rock perfection.

By the time the band's set finished (as ever, with a stunning rendition of Downfall Of Us All), I was staring, almost open-mouthed with genuine speechlessness, at the stage (which, at this point had two cars, a model helicopter, fire, flashing lights, paper confetti and more on it). This was a sublime show from A Day to Remember, and one that was a true pleasure to be a part of.