Monday, November 2, 2009
The Spin Paramore at The Ryman, 11/1/09
Posted by The Spin on Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 11:54 AM
This is a little unfair, but for a hot minute there, it looked like the most exciting part of last night's Paramore show at The Ryman was going to be the moment Taylor Swift walked--no, strode--across the front row of the balcony, sending a giddy wave through the crowd and fans scrambling into the aisles, elbowing each other and hoisting their cell phones and cameras. Even the most elementary lip-reading skills could have told you that "Ohmygod Taylor Swift" was already a trending topic.
But it didn't take long for Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams to remind everyone (and their chaperones) who they had really come out to see. The Mother Church, or "the O.G. Opry," as she called it at one point, felt a bit like a regular church on youth ministry night--give or take a giant synchronized light show or two--until it erupted in screams the second Williams skipped onstage. The band came out with a burst and got a feverish response to "Ignorance" before dropping into cruise control. Drummer Zac Farro played with all the subtlety of a gorilla trying to open a suitcase full of bananas with his elbows, and bassist Jeremy Davis--the only member of the band other than Williams to engage the audience, though he never even spoke into a microphone--jumped about, now and again doing the proto-crabcore headbang dance in sync with new guy Taylor York. At times, guitarist Josh Farro looked like an unhappy statue someone had thrown a guitar on.
Williams spent much of her between-song banter talking about Nashville. She dedicated one song to all the fans who came to their early shows at The End and Exit/In. Since almost no one we could see was old enough to get into either of those clubs, the response to the local-venue shout-out was muted, to say the least. One person who was old enough, though, was the dude to our left, whose combination of bad posture and bad skin made him look like a cross between a rape-y lizard and a white version of the guy in Slumdog Millionaire who burns the little kid's eyes out with acid. Even when he was singing along to the songs he had a weird, dead look in his eyes, and he would raise his camera very, very slowly to his pocked face when taking pictures of Hayley Williams. He took a lot of pictures. It wasn't hard to imagine a six-pack of Mike's Hard Lemonade sitting on the passenger seat of his truck. Consider us creeped the fuck out.
But anyway. For the encore, Williams came out with Josh Farro and did that thing performers do at The Ryman, playing Loretta Lynn's "You Ain't Woman Enough" (to Take My Man)" sans amplification at the front of the stage. The crowd couldn't make up its mind whether to return the reverence or shower their heroine with love. Throughout the song, a "Woo!" would ring out from somewhere in the auditorium, only to be answered immediately by a "Shh!" "Woo!" "Shh!" "Woo!" "Shh!" It was the most comical call-and-response we've heard at a show...maybe ever. The band kept it low-key, breaking out more acoustic guitars (but turning the P.A. back on) for a few songs, including a lovely rendition of "The Only Exception." Then it was back to bombast for "Misery Business," which was every bit as good as we were hoping it would be, and our cue to get out while the aisles were still clear.
Comments (13)
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i keep coming back hoping that this has hit some paramore message board somewhere, and i'll have some misspelled diatribes to read about how awesome zac and josh are, and how stupid the spin is, but no such luck...what's going on, kids? now what am i going to do with monday?
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"...with all the subtlety of a gorilla trying to open a suitcase full of bananas with his elbows..."
I'm keeping this for later. Great line.
Side note: Did anyone see how bad the Hatch print sucked for this show? Yikes.
but she didn't give a shout out to those of us who were at their first show ever in the basement of the people's church in franklin? :P
i totally agree with u about how hayley and jeremy are the only ones who engage with the audience and how josh looked like an unhappy statue someone had thrown a guitar on. thats y hayley and jeremy are my favorites.
A couple of comments:
1) A rock band native to Nashville headlining a show in the Ryman is a Good Thing.
2) Actual competence on stage is a rare commodity, and the kids from Franklin have it. They were on their marks, in tune, and in time. Give them credit for pulling off an error free show under the pressure inherent in a first performance at the Ryman. Many groups with much more experience experience and higher reputation have fallen on their faces in that situation.
3) Above all, the show was FUN. The crowd had a ball, and I did not hear a single negative comment about the performance from the audience.
4) Haley Williams takes over any stage she steps on. Sharing a stage with her cannot be an easy task. And to their credit, the other members of the group do not try to upstage her. When a band has a truly magnetic frontman or woman, the first rule for the other members is to let their main attraction be their main attraction. Spotlights can never truly be shared in a live show. Despite a ton of press to the contrary, the other members of the group seemed to understand that basic reality, at least on this night.
All in all, they played with skill and style in front of an energized audience. That was, after all, what the audience paid to see. They played to a sold-out house in Nashville's sanctum sanctorum. And they did it well. They are proud to say they are from Nashville, and the city should be proud of them. They earned it.
"Jesus, I bet that was awful."
it was alright. they were good performers even back then (when they were just called Hayley's Band.. hah). i didn't really think they'd ever get this big though. but i'm happy for them.
i'll take it as a compliment that 25% of your "review" was dedicated to the guy sitting next to you. hey, if you can't find anything wrong with the band, make fun of someone nearby! as always, great reporting!
Wow. I mean I like reading your stuff Cream, but you guys are on another asshole level this time. Show wasn't that bad, especially since another band getting attention from Nashville opened up Paper Route. They were pretty good. You guys are just straight up assholes. I'll leave you guys to your Courtney Tidwell tweets or something.
M
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