All Time Low celebrated the release of their new album Tell Me I’m Alive with a sold-out show at London’s iconic Wembley Arena on Friday night. The show was a special one for the 4-piece band due to it being the release day of their ninth studio album, which also made it the perfect show for them to live stream in it’s entirety for fans to watch worldwide. The band were joined by Games We Play, Lauran Hibberd and Set It Off who certainly got the crowd going ahead of the American rock band.
The crowd went crazy as the lights dimmed and All Time Low walked out on the stage. They went straight into their track “PMA”, and as the beat dropped after the intro a confetti canon went off, creating a truly euphoric atmosphere within the sold-out venue. The band then went straight into “Let It Roll”, where guitarist Jack Barakat walked up to fellow bandmate Alex Gaskarth to kiss him on the cheek, although he turned his head at the last minute and gave Jack a little peck. The next track was “Somethings Gotta Give”, which has an insanely smooth transition. Frontman Gaskarth walked up the runway and stated that he ‘needed to see human beings on shoulder right now’, which the fans in the standing area happily obliged. You could see how happy the band were to be back on stage in London. Barakat and Gaskarth joked that the show would be different as their mums were watching the show from home so they can’t curse.
When the band played the title track from their new album “Tell Me I’m Alive”, they encouraged the fans in the standing area to make some circle pits and go absolutely wild. After this they went on to perform another track of the latest album “Modern Love”, however they mashed it up with an old fan favourite “Stella”. The band members later took a moment to acknowledge their incredibly talented drummer, Rian Dawson, who just so happened to be on a tall platform for this show and his bandmates cracked some jokes about him being too far away.
Two lovely fans in the audience held a sign up about how they met through a shared passion for the band and had recently gotten engaged, and the band expressed their heartfelt congratulations to the lovely couple. Barakat made a joke about ‘must be f*cking nice man…It wasn’t until this moment that I realised love is real. It’s not a fairytale’, which got a ripple of laughter from the audience.
The band then went on to play some old classics “Lost In Stereo” and “Weightless”, which sent the fans into a frenzy. People were getting on top of their friend’s shoulders and crowd-surfing. Both band and fans alike were having a truly amazing time dancing and letting loose. They went on to play “Life of the Party” and smoothly transitioned it into “Dirty Laundry”, although Alex had to stop the song due to a fan needing medical assistance in the standing area. He stressed the importance of getting people help if they pass out or fall to avoid them getting hurt. Jack played some calming guitar melody to fill the silence as Alex gave a heartfelt speech about how special this night is for the band. Once the fan was in the safe hands of paramedics the band restarted the song.
They went on to play much-loved songs “Do You Want Me (Dead?)”, “Dark Side Of Your Room” and “Getaway Green”. Alex decided to ditch the suit jacket at this point and grab a cap from backstage, which has become a signature look for him over the years. “Basement Noise” was next up on the setlist, a touching song reminiscing on their early years as a band. The background visuals for this track showcase photographs from the beginning of their time as a band, all members were seen looking up at the screen in awe of their achievements, it was beautiful.
Gaskarth then went on to perform a few songs solo, the first of which was “Therapy”, in which he encouraged the fans to sing along with him, although it seems the whole audience forgot part of the lyrics causing him to chuckle and say okay. Before beginning “Once In A Lifetime” Alex spoke to the crowd about how he taught himself to play the piano and mentioned there was no better way to get better than to play the piano in front of a couple thousand people every night.
As the band joined the frontman back on the stage they went on to play “Calm Down” from Tell Me I’m Alive, which actually had a music video come out earlier that day. Straight after that they went into “Some Kind Of Disaster” from their 2020 album Wake Up Sunshine. During their song “Time-Bomb” Jack jumped off the crowd and stood on the barrier, letting fans along the way help him play the guitar. There was one final song before the encoure which was their catch 2022 single “Sleepwalking”.
For the encoure Gaskarth, Barakat, Merrick and Dawson performed old fan favourite “Weightless”, and popular release “Monsters”, which features Blackbear. The only acceptable final song at an All Time Low show is of course “Dear Maria Count Me In”, and as expected it sent the crowd absolutely crazy. People were screaming the lyrics off the top of their lungs, jumping around, going mental and crowd surfing. There was a moment when the members of All Time Low allowed fans to sing the words back to them and they looked in awe from the stage. Bassist Zack Merrick and guitarist Jack Barakat worked the stage, doing crazy jumps and just taking in the incredible achievement of selling out Wembley Arena. The show ended with another round of confetti and the band handing out some leftover guitar picks and drumsticks to the crowd. All Time Low are such an incredible band to see live and we feel extremely grateful to have been there to witness such an iconic show for them.
Words and photography by Megan Wales-Harding.
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