Mayday Parade – Southampton Engine Rooms – 28/09/17
If there’s one thing that gets you through a working day, it’s knowing you’re seeing Mayday Parade album A Lesson In Romantics in its entirety. Upon walking into the venue it became apparent that every other fan in the area felt the same, as it was an impressive showing of people that had turned up for the night.
Australia’s own With Confidence were a hit with the crowd from the word go as they kicked off with Voldemort, a track from their debut album Better Weather. The Sydney quartet struggled to find something to relate to Southampton about during one of their quiet moments, before reminding us all of the Titanic and that fiasco, but it was all a bit tongue in cheek humour and went down well with the crowd. Throwing out tracks like Archers had the crowd joining in with a sing-a-long and all too soon the band drew to a close with Keeper to make way for the headline act.
To huge approval from the crowd Mayday Parade took to the stage and began a night of extreme feels; A Lesson In Romantics style. First up, Jamie All Over gave an instant rush of nostalgia and the band were on top of their game, better than the recorded version but not differently so. Knowing that a full album of classics was still to come had the room pumped with anticipation as the band rolled into Black Cat and thirdly When I Get Home You’re So Dead. Following this opening, Jersey was a bouncing track, with the band barely audible above the chanting of the crowd. Slowing down for a moment, Miserable At Best was definitely one of the most popular songs of the evening with a beautiful call and response during the chorus.
Moving on through the set, Champagne’s For Celebrating (I’ll Have A Martini) brought back a bit of pace, providing a slightly lighter break before the band approached their last songs of the night starting with Terrible Things, which proved to be even more emotional live than on recording, a few glimmering tears were spotted after this rendition. Ending on Oh Well, Oh Well the band went out with a bang, it’d been an emotional rollercoaster of a night but all in all it was a fantastic performance and ended all too soon, a DVD wouldn’t go amiss…
Review & Photos: Jade Falconer photography
