Walking up to the O2 Academy in Leeds, the queue was long and the fans were cold. However, this did not matter; they were about to see A Day To Remember. From Florida, ADTR have been around for eleven years, and have made huge hits in the metalcore and post-hardcore scene. With their most recent album, Common Courtesy, dropping in the end of 2013, the band have since been on multiple UK and Europe tours, including a US tour, and even played Reading and Leeds 2014.
The first opening act to play was UK band Decade, who performed an exceptional set, and had a lot of energy. To follow were Lower Than Atlantis, who the crowd clearly knew well; singing along to every lyric, and enjoying the heavy riffs and fast-paced nature of the music. However, the crowd were eagerly awaiting the arrival of ADTR. Finally, they came on stage, and began playing their infamous opener, The Downfall of Us All. It was at this point where Jeremy (the lead singer of ADTR) came a foot away from my camera lens, pointed into it, and screamed. But, alas, it was also at this point that my camera decided not to take the photograph in time. Anyway, back to the gig. The crowd was ecstatic to see the band; the energy was unreal.
The next song to play was 2nd Sucks, followed by Right Back At It Again. These songs kept the crowd going, and kept the energy at an all time high. A large amount of the songs in the set were from their album Common Courtesy, however there were still songs from Homesick, What Separates Me From You, and even For Those Who Have Heart.
After playing Monument, the crowd began chanting ‘Yorkshire, Yorkshire, Yorkshire’, where Jeremy acknowledged this, and even complimented the crowd on chanting it. Then came Violence, which got the mosh-pit going, and the energy of the crowd really increased. The heaviness of the guitars intertwined with the harsh vocals belting from Jeremy’s voice was a combination that could not be faulted. During this part of the set, Jeremy took to the microphone to thank the drummer, Alex Shelnutt, for his efforts in playing six heavy songs in a row without break, even calling him the “most important member of the band”.
The band ended their initial set with All I Want, and quickly exited the stage. This was clearly not the end of the set, as the crowd realised immediately. They began chanting ‘Yorkshire’ once again, in addition to chanting ‘one more song’. However, the crowd quickly lost rhythm, and the half-hearted chanting stopped gradually. The band was still not coming back out, so the crowd tried one more attempt at ‘one more song’, and this time it worked. Back on stage with If It Means a Lot to You, Jeremy and guitarist Neil Westfall serenaded the crowd with their acoustic guitars. They then played All Signs Point to Lauderdale, hurling rolls of toilet paper at the crowd, and finally The Plot to Bomb the Panhandle.
The show was great. A Day To Remember were on their top form, and were excellent at getting the crowd involved. Of course, the crowd loved every second of the night – as could be gathered from listening to discussions once the gig had ended. I personally loved the gig – having already seen them once a few years back, where they were immensely good, ADTR were even better this time. The night was phenomenal – lead singer Jeremy even called this night “the best night of the tour so far”.