Sunday 14 September
Supports: Jack’s Mannequin, The Home Team
Mayday Parade returned to Australia this week to celebrate 20 years together of being in a band and Australian fans lapped. this. up. With ‘Three Cheers for 20 Years‘ marking their biggest set of shows this side of the world, you can rest assured the Tallahassee emo/pop punkers brought a setlist that was worth waiting for.
Opening up duties for the evening was Seattle pop rock outfit The Home Team, who I personally was amped to see (having narrowly missed out on their last visit last year). From the very first tune, this band didn’t let things slow down. Vocalist Brian Butcher oozed so much charisma onstage it was contagious. Between hits like ‘Brag‘ and ‘Overtime‘, fans were moving to their own beat, as Brian shimmied his way from left to right. Impressing the pants right off many folks in the room, there was some incredible heat and synergy being formed tonight, a radiant aura filled the venue and left an everlasting buzz of excitement in the air for the rest of the show.
Watching The Home Team for the very first time has reignited a spark in me that I hadn’t felt with live music. While the band are one of the brightest acts in contemporary pop punk today, they perform with tenacity, almost as if they’ve been doing this for years. Brian gave his utmost gratitude to Brisbane that night, claiming, “we never play in venues this big” and proceeded in with the love crooner ballad ‘Walk This World with Me‘. Easily one of the strongest opening acts I’ve witnessed in this venue this year.
Following a short intermission, or a break for drinks we’ll call it, the lights dimmed and the opening notes to ‘The Mixed Tape‘ blared over the PA. I wasn’t too big on Jack’s Mannequin back in the day, so my limited listening experience is stuck with hearing this track being all over tv series of the 2000s (ahem, One Tree Hill).
So, whilst the intro brought all of the nostalgia from 2005, it was a little anticlimactic and had me enjoy the return of Jack’s Mannequin from side walls of Fortitude Music Hall. Vocalist Andrew McMahon led the band with performing their well-loved debut, Everything in Transit, delivering a set that balanced heartfelt nostalgia with the kind of energy that made the record so enduring. The album’s bittersweet mix of emo and reflective lyrics resonated warmly with the crowd, many of whom were singing along with McMahon.
Offering up a melancholy blend of emo pop, the atmosphere inside Fortitude Music Hall was joyful, almost as if the songs had aged into something celebratory. Riding the momentum of The Home Team’s high-octane performance, Jack’s Mannequin managed to sustain the energy while steering it into more sentimental, yet captivating, territory.
With Mayday Parade celebrating their twenty year tenure, fans were expecting to dance and mosh to an all time greatest hits discography. However, what was blared through the speakers that evening was something so much more. You can’t say the band didn’t leave Brisbane fans with glass-eyed looks tonight, as the setlist spanned some serious deep cuts and never before heard tracks.
Opening with a clip of the band doing an interview from 15-20 yerars ago, the boys kicked in with newer track ‘By the Way‘ before diving into deep cuts from their first EP, Tales Told By Dead Friends. But it was hearing the opening bars to ‘Jersey‘ that had the audience move into bigger momentum. Almost as if in sync, we sang our hearts alongside Derek Sanders as he performed with maturity and resilience. A standout of the show as with every time Mayday returns to our shores is the starlit piano ballad ‘Miserable At Best‘.
It must be said though, that one album on the band’s discography was left a lttle unloved tonight. Anywhere But Here is one of my personal favourite Mayday records and while we were exposed to a heartfelt reimagining of ‘Bruised and Scarred’, it was ‘Kids in Love‘ that was left out of the setlist. It felt criminal not hearing and I will hold that to the boys for next time they return. Please never drop this song from your shows again.
The band’s self-titled LP received plenty of appraise and adoration with hits ‘Oh Well, Oh Well’ and ‘Stay‘. Throw in a combination of songs released from the last five years gave fans full confidence that Mayday Parade are still maintaining that emo momentum and preparing to stick around for another 10-20 more.
With no planned encores, the finale offered a teaser of what’s to come. ‘Pretty Good to Feel Something‘ gave us all one more reason to believe in the spirit of pop punk. As the lights shone with ‘Jamie’s All Over‘ rounding up the night, it was evident that Mayday Parade place Australia very close to their hearts and we’re excited to witness more new music next month with Sad dropping October 3.
Review by Tamara May
Photos by Reece Trudgen. Please credit Reece & PitPass if reposting.
