Paramore performed to a sold out crowd at the Houston Toyota Center as part of their “This Is Why Tour” and it was a show to remember.
Fans started camping out as early as noon the day before the show to be as close as possible to their favorite band. By 8am the day of the show, there were at least 500 people in line, it goes to show how dedicated Paramore fans are. Outside the venue there were plenty of cool things to do, you could get merchandise early, take pictures with the marquee or even get free samples and learn about “Good Dye Young”, Hayley Williams and Brian O’Connors hair dye company.
Once the doors opened, the party was getting started. The Lindas Lindas opened the show and performed songs such as “Talking To Myself”, “Fine” and “Oh!”, you could see that some attendees were big fans as well as they were singing the songs back to them and giving it their all. Up next was British rock band FOALS. Their 45 minute set included songs such as “My Number”, “The Runner” and “What Went Down”. Needless to say, both of these bands hyped up the crowd and prepared everyone for the main act, Paramore.
It was 8:55 PM and the lights went out, the screens projected a video, Paramore, consisting of Hayley Williams, Taylor York, and Zac Farro and touring members Joey Howard, Logan MacKenzie, Joey Mullen and Brian Robert Jones came out on stage and soon the intro to “You First” started playing, everyone screamed at the top of their lungs, immediately joining in singing. As the song came to an end the venue was filled with confetti that erupted from the confetti cannons, giving more excitement to fans. The set continued with songs “The News”, fan favorite “That’s What You Get”, and “Playing God”. The band then took a brief pause and Hayley thanked everyone for coming out to the show, she stated “let me be the first to tell you, Houston Texas, that we’re Paramore”.
The set continued with songs from “After Laughter” such as “Caught In The MIddle” and “Rose Colored Boy” followed by “Running Out of Time” from the latest album “This Is Why”. The crowd was giving it their all through the night but the next song really showed how loud the Houston crowd could get. The intro to “Decode” started playing and the entire venue was filled with screams of excitement. Fans were headbanging, screaming, and even crying to the song, it goes to show the impact that it had on everyone. There was soon an interlude where Williams, Farro and York appeared on a platform and performed “Liar”, followed by a cover of “I Miss You” by Beyonce and followed by “Crystal Clear” from Hayley’s debut solo album “Petals For Armor”.
The show followed with songs “Hard Times” which had an amazing pyro moment, “Told You So” and “Figure 8”. The band performed another fan favorite “The Only Exception” and everyone in the room was emotional, the venue glowed with lights from fans’ phone flashlights, and the stage lit up with more incredible pyrotechnics. Zac Farro then took the stage and performed “Baby” from his musical project HalfNoise.
The show was slowly coming to an end but the real fun was about to begin, Williams goes “1, 2, 3, 4” and the iconic song “Misery Business” starts playing. The venue is singing in unison and not missing a word, the impact this song had on everyone was incredible, the crowd goes on to sing the bridge and Williams does not, the band has a surprise. Hayley looks at the crowd and says that they are going to pick someone to sing the bridge on stage with them, she walks across the stage looking at everybodies signs and faces and ultimately picks a 9 year old fan named Riley to sing on stage! Fans collectively said “awwww” and rooted for her, she did an incredible job. The final songs of the show consisted of “Ain’t It Fun”, “Still Into You” and the finale “This Is Why” where the venue was filled with confetti written with the song title. The band thanked everyone for coming and took a final bow before heading off stage. A Paramore show will have you singing, crying, dancing and ultimately having the best time of your life, they are an incredible act, and experiencing a Paramore show is like no other. If the band ever comes to a city near you, please make sure to attend, you will not regret it.
PARAMORE
Photos by Zachary Gray
Review by Michael Perea, Photos by Zachary Gray| Exclusively for Music, Why Not!