Mastodon Paramore @ the Entertainment Centre
The rise and rise of Paramore saw the pop punks return to Australian shores for the second time in 2010. Led by pocket rocket Hayley Williams, the Tennessee quintet proved their worth as international rock stars with a dynamite show at the Ent Cent.
There’s no doubt about Paramore. Or should that be there’s No Doubt about Paramore? Having toured with the reunified Anaheim pop punkers in 2009, there’s a growing feeling that Paramore are similarly edging towards the commercial tipping point when vocalist Hayley Williams sidesteps her band for a taste of solo success. Even some of Williams’ moves are reminiscent of No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani, from the awkward dancing on the spot to the bent down peer through the audience. Before she takes a break and considers her next move in 2011, Williams has one last tour to commemorate the global success of 2009’s Brand New Eyes album.
Although not packed out, a sizeable crowd has ventured to the Entertainment Centre for tonight’s performance, with Ohio’s Relient K playing as main support. Relient K frontman Matt Thiessen doesn’t know if he wants to be Spoon’s Britt Daniel, Jim Adkins from Jimmy Eat World or Ben Folds, so as he thumps away on his keyboard he offers tastes of all of them. Opening song Be My Escape suffers major sound troubles and Thiessen is barely audible, sending the tech on the mixing desk – a ringer for Alan in The Hangover – scrambling to work out what all the flashing buttons in front of him actually do. Songs such Sahara (featuring Paramore’s Taylor York drumming on a baseball bat for the intro) and Devastation And Reform are the sorts of songs that could easily, inconspicuously fill the gaps on an American Pie soundtrack, but it’s Relient K’s cover of Toto’s Africa that grabs the most attention, if only because the vocal melodies are skewed from the original soft rock classic.
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