LIVE REVIEW: Mayday Parade, Real Friends, As It Is, Troxy, London, 03/06/2022
Photo Credit: Lucy Cheyne (O2 Academy Glasgow – 05/06/2022)
A top tier pop-punk trio of bands were in presence at London’s Troxy on June 3rd. As It Is, Real Friends and headed up by alternative mainstays Mayday Parade, who performed their self-titled album in full, in celebration of its mammoth now eleven-year anniversary, alongside some of Mayday’s unmistakable hits. Alongside teaming up with As It Is and Real Friends, Mayday Parade were the leaders in pull on your heart strings fuelled pop-punk to emotional perfection.
Chicago collective Real Friends delivered a set of sing-a-long hits spanning Composure, The Home Inside My Head and Maybe This Place Is The Same And We’re Just Changing. Emotion and energy ignited the duration of Real Friends time opening for Mayday, bringing buckets of hype to the table at Troxy. 7/10
Brighton-based emo pop-punkers As It Is always bring the biggest performance of passion no-matter what setting they find themselves in. Whether it be headlining their own smaller shows or performing on a mainstage at Slam Dunk Festival, As It Is went above and beyond with a set themed on their latest LP I Went To Hell And Back, with some of the band’s older material thrown into the mix for balance and the OG As It Is fans sake. 9/10
Eleven years ago, Mayday Parade’s self-titled album made waves for the band and now all this time later, those waves are still as strong and as big as when this album dropped, so seeing this band grasp the opportunity to shine a light on its impact was immense. Naturally starting things off on album opener Oh Well Oh Well, Mayday prove that the emo kick this record gives was well and truly still alive and kicking. From the emotional pop-punk lyrics that scream out from the pain of heartbreak “When you’re alone, do you think of me? And my diamond rings thrown out to sea and when you love, do you love for me? Like harmony, a never-ending dream” hit hardest live, vocalist Derek Sanders voice etched with the same emotion, the three-thousand strong crowd connecting to the band instantly on a highly charged cathartic basis.
From Mayday Parade album opener to album closer Happy Endings Are Stories That Haven’t Ended Yet rounds off the record’s time in the anniversary spotlight. Dosed in happiness and upbeat euphoria, Happy Endings Are Stories That Haven’t Ended Yet closed out the self-titled’s airing on a lighter note, the rollercoaster of crashing and devastating emotion extremely hard to get off.
Not wanting to leave without saying goodbye with some of the bands biggest, Mayday Parade marched back onto stage for an encore of fan-favourites. Including Jamie All Over, Miserable At Best and Jersey; Mayday Parade prove here with their hits and throughout the set with their self-titled that this band’s legacy is going to live on for some time yet. 8/10
Written by: Katie Conway-Flood
Photo Credit: Lucy Cheyne (O2 Academy Glasgow – 05/06/2022)
