It’s Not a Dream Anymore

Last night the Honda Civic Tour hit Phoenix, bringing Paramore, Tegan and Sara, New Found Glory, and Kadawatha along for the ride. I bought my tickets, oh, six months ago when they went on presale, and counted down the days until the show. Now that it’s over, I’ve got to write about it (are we surprised?) before I forget all of the details of the incredible show!

Let me start out by saying one thing: Concerts are meant to be enjoyed from the pit. There was some talk of possibly getting backstage access at this concert, and while it would have been awesome to get to meet some incredibly talented musicians, I don’t think I would have wanted to stand on the side of the stage and watch the concert. The show was designed to be seen from the audience, and I’d much rather stand in the hot, stinky, crowded pit and see it the way it was meant to be seen.

The show was held at the Dodge Theatre in downtown Phoenix. It was my first time to this venue, and I was highly impressed. That place can really pack in a crowd, and they did exactly that with a sold out show. The pit was pretty good sized and there were way more seats than I expected. The sound system was impressive, too, and the bass actually shook the floor at times. I will definitely be back to the Dodge again.

Now for the good stuff…the music! Paramore had three openers: Kadawatha, New Found Glory, and Tegan and Sara. We had dinner at Cooperstown before the concert and got to the show just after Kadawatha finished playing, so unfortunately I can’t say much except that “Kadawatha” is really fun to say. New Found Glory put on a great show, the kind that gets you moving even if you don’t know the music well. Then came Tegan and Sara. I’ve just recently gotten into their music, and I absolutely love it. They played a good set and even poked a bit of fun at themselves, calling Sara (I think...I had a hard time figuring out which was which, and how often do twins hear that one?) a Justin Bieber look-alike and saying that the twins, just shy of 30, “don’t look a day over 12.” At the end of their set, a friend mentioned that they had played for almost an hour, but honestly it did not seem like that long, and I’m very glad I got to see their performance.

The show started at 6:30, but Paramore didn’t hit the stage until about 9:30. I’m sure this may have been a long wait for some, but for me, the opening bands were entertainment enough to keep me held over until they came on. The setup of the stage was neat, with a metal mesh backdrop upon which videos were displayed throughout the show. At the start of the show, after a huge black curtain dropped and they began playing “Ignorance,” a bunch of lightbulbs dropped and swung low over the audience before settling over the stage—a cool effect reminiscent of the music video.

The concert was fantastic. I had only seen Paramore once before, last year when they opened for No Doubt on the summer reunion tour, which is when I really started to love them. It’s rare to see a band live that sounds almost exactly as good as they do on the studio album, but Paramore is definitely one of the few. Hayley Williams has an incredible voice that just doesn’t quit. I sang along to every single song at the top of my lungs, and by the end of the night my throat was about ready to remove itself from my body so that I would stop trying to murder it, but somehow Hayley is able to do that every single night and still sound absolutely amazing. I’m pretty sure she drinks a magic concoction of sorts, or perhaps she uses some sort of voodoo magic, and really, can she hook me up with some of that good stuff?

At the very beginning of the concert, maybe three songs in or so, there was a guy about five feet away from me that decided it was time to start a mosh pit with unwilling crowd members. He started bumping into everyone around him unapologetically, which started a fight. A big girl-on-girl, guy-on-guy, and even girl-on-guy fight. In a move that showed absolute class and respect for the concertgoers that weren’t throwing punches, Hayley stopped singing and actually reprimanded the people involved in the brawl. It took a minute for security to break things up and the band didn’t start playing again until the offenders were escorted out of the pit.

What I love most about Paramore isn’t just their music—yes, it’s fun to sing along to and it touches the heart and all of the good things music is made of, but that can be said of many, many bands. What I love most about them is their heart. Not just Hayley, but guitarists Josh Farro and Taylor York, bassist Jeremy Davis, and drummer Zac Farro…it is so clear when you watch them live that they love what they’re doing. Their interactions with the audience, their beautiful acoustic songs, the clear fact that they’re having a blast on stage—that’s what really makes me fall in love with Paramore.

There were little things in the show that made it just that much more special. During their acoustic set, Hayley and Josh did a cover of Loretta Lynn’s “You Ain’t Woman Enough,” a song that truly transcended the music genres. The band sat on a big red couch and brought a lamp onstage during their acoustic performances of “When It Rains,” “Where the Lines Overlap,” and “Misguided Ghosts” to add a personal touch. They invited fans onstage during their encore of "Misery Business” to help them sing through the bridge, and Zac Farro and Taylor York (drums and guitar, respectively) wore Bert and Ernie masks throughout the song. I was pretty impressed with guitarist Taylor for sticking it out through the show, because he was constantly coughing and, as Hayley explained during band introductions, he was suffering from the flu. Mad props to him for still rocking hard and giving an enjoyable performance, and it’s just too bad that there wasn’t a granny in the audience to give him a cough drop. Next time.

From the moment the curtain dropped until the confetti stopped showering down at the end of their encore, Paramore put on a fantastic show. I’m never very critical of concerts, because I get so caught up in the excitement of the moment, but I’m pretty sure I can say that this was the best concert I’ve ever been to. Yes, I was that girl that screamed a lot and danced to every song and sang every word, and I wouldn’t do it any other way. Thank you Honda Civic Tour for an awesome tour. Thank you Tegan and Sara and New Found Glory (and probably Kadawatha, too) for making the wait for Paramore a fantastic one. Thank you Steve, Morgan, Dash, Mark and Carissa for going with and making the night that much more fun. Most of all, thank you Paramore for coming back to Phoenix and blowing us all away. I think I’m speaking on behalf of everybody when I say, please come see us again soon!