Thursday, March 3, 2011

All Time Low - Manchester Academy 1


All Time Low
Academy
February 27, 2011

Happy-go-lucky radio- friendly pop punk has seen us through summer days since Blink 182 brought three chords and toilet humour to the fore.

Who’d have thought a decade later the same formula still works, even if the pants are tighter and the hair longer. And even in the cold northern winter, All Time Low had Academy 1 glowing, not to mention pogo-ing and generally going nuts.

These boys from Baltimore have experienced a quite ridiculous rise to fame, going from high school garage band to MTV sensations in a drum beat.

And it wasn’t hard to see why. As they shifted through tracks off their first two full-lengths, So Wrong It’s Right and Nothing Personal, they made the stage their own, seeming like seasoned professionals despite their youth.

From the veritable coat of bras adorning guitarist Jack Barakat’s mike stand to the ‘me & your mum’ sticker on the back of Zack Merrick’s bass, the sense of humour was as simple as the genre has ever been.

But lead singer/guitarist Alex Gaskarth has star quality and is the engine that makes the foursome tick. His voice is impressive and his stage presence undeniable.

Fan favourites such as Timebomb and Lost in Stereo had the young crowd going silly with excitement and Alex’s frequent and colourful vocal interactions with his audience stirred them up all the more.

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