Mayday Parade 

Plus: Natives, For The Foxes,
The Summer Set 

The Peel, Kingston

05.10.2012

Words: Jenny Chu

The Hampshire posse- Natives have the challenge of moving things into second gear. They do it rather well drawing attention to their seriously raw but cool pop-rock sound. The five-piece seem pretty confident in maintaining power and they certainly manage to keep it up. Their attempt of the famous sit down, jump up crowd engagement that the likes of Slipknot and Young Guns have previously thrown into their performances does the band proud leaving just the odd awkward faces. Natives put in some big effort into their set and behave as if they belong on a much bigger stage. Make way Britain! You’ve got a new band on your hands!

For The Foxes have the pop energy and quarks of Hellogoodbye in some of their songs before showing off their more indie-rock edge in their song ‘The Revolution’. Their performance tonight is more like marmite however, you either love it or you hate it and with the extreme clashes of Nicholas Francis’ soft, suede-like vocals wrestling the coarse guitars the New Jersey boys are walking a fine line. There is a turning point when Francis takes to the stage with ‘The River’ exposing his natural talent which is the frontman at his rather best.

Smashing their way through a drum solo for their introduction is The Summer Set before surfing the waves of ‘Chelsea’ off their 2009 release Love Like This. Sure they look like they’ve stepped off a Saved By The Bell set but this is a band nobody can match. ‘Must Be The Music’ and ‘Young’ capture the band in full swing of what they have achieved so far; an extraordinary international fan base and not one but two full length records that are very much alive tonight. Frontman Brian Dales asks the audience ‘London, if we come back will you come back too?’ and the response? Well The Summer Set had never needed to doubt future UK tour date sales. 

Headliners and worthy titles of that indeed is Mayday Parade who quite literally bounce into ‘Oh Well Oh Well’ off self-titled 2011 album and fact is, they sound just as beautiful as ever. Only visiting this side of the pond earlier this year with a support slot for British boys You Me At Six they have come here tonight to make some further memories.

The quintet from Florida get things just right with ‘Jersey’; a compelling pop-punk heart throb in the form of the soundtrack of their career. Stealing the show almost right away is ‘Kids In Love’ proving that Mayday Parade deserve all good things that come their way. Their faultless talent that enables them to deliver songs with such emotion yet frame the stage with such high energy guarantees leaving a smile on every single face in the crowd.

Dominating the set is their self-titled album producing rock artworks like ‘No Heroes Allowed’, ‘Priceless’ and ‘When You See My Friends’ all are definite musts in making Mayday Parade champions. Seven years on and the talented bunch play the first song they wrote as a band ‘Three Cheers for Five Years’. But it’s ‘You Be The Anchor That Keeps My Feet On The Ground, I’ll be Wings That Keep Your Heart In The Clouds’ that manages to not leave a single dry eye in sight. Perfectly performed is Derek Sanders who treats the intimate room to a series of alluring sing-alongs with ‘Miserable At Best’ and ‘Stay’ both of which are well-formed and sweep everyone off their feet. Mayday Parade tonight have a hold of what it is to be a great if not a completely flawless band. All five have the presence that draws up nothing short of a pop punk love story. Captivating London is ‘When You See My Friends’ which is brought with an enchanting intro that makes the whole room aware how special Derek and co are. What better way to see things off than with ‘Jamie All Over’, another unsurprising and definitely mesmerizing belter wrapped up by the striking multi-vocals from that of Derek, bassist Jeremy Lenzo and drummer Jake Bundrick, all alongside guitarists Alex Garcia and Brooks Betts who fit together to form a hell of an amazing band and it’s been a hell of an amazing start to their UK tour.