All Time Low put on a gnarly performance Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Alpharetta, Ga. One Ok Rock, Neck Deep and Sleeping with Sirens joined All Time Low on the Back to the Future Hearts tour. All Time Low is touring in support of their sixth album, Future Hearts, which was released April 3 via Hopeless records. However, there were many empty seats at the venue, which makes this concert attendee question whether or not pop punk group may be slowly fading into extinction.
One Ok Rock, a Japanese pop punk band, opened the concert. The band started their set by delivering a powerful punch to the crowd. Be that as it may, after the band played their song “Paper Lanes,” lead vocalist Takahiro Moriuchi asked the crowd if they were ready for All Time Low. The crowd’s response to the question made it apparent that they were ready for the headliners to come onstage. One Ok Rock continued their set with “Mighty Long Fall.” This song has a pop punk breakdown towards the end that is pretty excellent. Moriuchi told the crowd to “make some noise,” but the lackluster cheering further proved that One Ok Rock was dragging and the crowd was ready for another band to play.
Following One Ok Rock was Welsh pop punk band Neck Deep, who put on a sizzling performance. The best part of Neck Deep’s set was vocalist Ben Barlow’s confession after the band performed “A Part of Me.”
“I’m the biggest pu**y. I wrote that,” he said.
Neck Deep deserved to have a set that was as long as Sleeping with Sirens or All Time Low. Neck Deep was the best band out of the whole tour lineup. They only played eight songs, with only two of them being off of the band’s 2014 debut release, Wishful Thinking. Sleeping with Sirens played 15 and All Time Low played 18. How is that fair?
Sleeping with Sirens, hailing from Orlando, Fl., was the next band to take the stage. Kellin Quinn, Sleeping with Sirens’ singer, has the ability to stretch his vocal chords like putty. Nine out of the 15 songs that Sleeping with Sirens played during their set were off the band’s most recent album, Madness. Unfortunately, Sleeping with Sirens did not play any tracks off their 2010 debut release, With Ears to See and Eyes to Hear. Their debut album is my personal favorite out of their discography, so it was disappointing that the band did not play any of their old material.
Finally, All Time Low hit the stage. The band started their set with a huge white sheet hiding the stage. Shortly after the band started playing “Satellite,” the sheet fell to the floor, leaving All Time Low exposed to the crowd. The crowd rejoiced after the sheet fell to the floor, making it evident that they have a close connection with their fanbase. They played 10 out of 15 tracks from their 2015 album, Future Hearts and concluded their set with a three-song encore.
I attended the FL show and while it’s true there were alot of empty seats that does not mean that this may be a sign of the demise of pop punk music. It still has a strong and solid fanbase. Also saying Neck Deep was the best band is way too subjective. I personally liked ATL the best, but I enjoyed everyone else equally.The whole point of this tour was to get some great bands together who could very well put on their own shows for their fans, but instead decided to team up and do a show with 4 great acts and expose their fanbase to other bands in the pop punk scene.