On Friday 17th March, All Time Low finished off their ‘Tell Me I’m Alive’ tour with a sold out show at London’s iconic Wembley Arena and we were there to witness the incredible night that it was.
All Time Low, made up of Alex Gasgarth, Jack Barakat, Zachary Merrick and Rian Dawson – a band with 20 years behind them and 8 successful studio albums have such a strong fan base, with many being with them since their early teenage years, growing up alongside the boys themselves. Looking around the arena from the photo pit you could see fans upon fans wearing tour T-shirts spanning the last decade if not more hearing crowd members recount memories of previous tours they have attended to eachother waiting for the show to begin.
After some support sets from Lauran Hibberd and Set It Off, which were both extremely talented music acts in themselves and have a very obvious future and fanbases of their own from the amount of people belting their lyrics in the front few rows the arena set for All Time Low was revealed. It’s always a moment when you see a band go from O2 Academy venues which are big deals themselves to arenas as the size levels everything up. Seeing Rian’s drum kit on a high platform overlooking the arena was a wow moment with Jack referring to the set up with laughter as ‘what are we Kiss now or something? Look at Rian up there in the gods!’
Opening the set with ‘PMA’ the sheer noise of the crowd was incredible. The band members entering the stage one by one with Alex entering last, surprising the crowd with a red suited look before later reverting to a signature T-shirt and cap. The set list spanned their full discography including loved tracks such as ‘Somewhere In Neverland’ and ‘Lost In Stereo’. During ‘Lost In Stereo’ the energy of the crowd was like nothing I had seen before at recent gigs. The noise, everyone dancing, jumping, it made every hair on my body stand on end it was such an amazing moment to witness. You could see the boys feeling it also as they stood back letting the moment sink in.
It took me back to being 14 years old at the back of Brixton Academy seeing them live for the first time with my friends. The buzz in the academy venue was replicated on the huge scale in Wembley.
The show was paused for a few minutes by Alex after he noticed someone being taken ill in the crowd, the audience showed so much appreciation for this after various incidents that have occurred at gigs and festivals in recent years. It’s great to see artists look out for the crowd and their fans and during this break the guys took the time to speak to the crowd expressing their disbelief for the size and scale of the night. Even Jack got sentimental to which Alex responded ‘who knew you’d be the mushy one!?’
Once the all clear was given the night carried on with tracks such as ‘Dark Side Of Your Room’ and ‘Basement Noise’ before Alex was left onstage to solo the iconic song ‘Therapy’ centre stage with just a guitar. Seeing the arena light up with phone lights, waving as the crowd belted the lyrics.
After performing their newest single which came out the day of the gig ‘Calm Down’ the rest of the set was filled with hit after hit such as ‘Time Bomb’, ‘Weightless’ and finishing the night off was the iconic ‘Dear Maria, Count Me In’. As the crowd filed out of the venue walking up to the tube station blaring and singing the songs that had just experienced live it was clear this would be an All Time Low gig the fans will always remember.
We wish Alex, Jack, Zach and Rian all the success with their latest album ‘Tell Me I’m Alive’ and can’t wait until they are back in the U.K. to do it all over again in the future.
