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| "It ends tonight" |
5 Stars
First support comes in shape of The Upwelling, waistcoated, tousle-haired perfection signed by AAR themselves, who play a few of their own grunge-influenced rock tunes before paying tribute to fellow New Yorkers, The Ramones, with a fantastic cover of I Wanna Be Sedated. Anyone who can rock out in a waistcoat is ok by me.
Second onto the battle-front are punk-rockers American Steel. With their catchy riffs and boundless energy (surprising from what looked like a group of middle aged men) they are the evening’s biggest surprise, heralding a new age of pop-punk. Definitely a band I’d see again. Predictably, the highlight of the night was, of course, The All-American Rejects.
Any other band would still be reeling from lead singer Tyson Ritter’s unexpected leg infection and the subsequent operation that forced them to cancel three shows and take two weeks off. But AAR seem to take it in their stride. Ignoring doctor’s advice to stay off stage for a while, they rocked into Manchester, the second leg of their sold-out U.K. tour, bright eyed, bushy tailed and ready to tout their own brand of dance-tinged pop-rock to the masses. The stage resembles a sugar-induced Mardi Gras hallucination, as amongst the flashing neon lights, Tyson bounces around in full Native American garb, complete with body glitter and a feather headdress. Apparently for The All-American Rejects Halloween is a month-long affair.
Clearly re-fuelled by their recent vacation, the guys are nothing but professional, delivering wall to wall songs and incredible sound quality despite technical difficulties with the mics. Peppering a few tracks from their new album When The World Comes Down, with mandatory hits Move Along, Dirty Little Secret, Swing Swing and It Ends Tonight, keeps the set from spiralling into the tedious obscurity that often plagues the pop-rock scene.
Losing the headdress during I’m Waiting, what isn’t lost is the enthusiasm and energy, which stays constant from start to finish.
Verdict: Tyson points to the bar; “you guys need to go help that guy out, you’re way too fucking aware for nine thirty”, but this isn’t a gig you need a stiff drink to endure. Fun and sexy, when they say they’ve been putting their "heart into the band for ten years" it’s actually believable.
The All-American Reject's latest album When The World Comes Down, released on Doghouse, 16th December 2008, is available from online stores: http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;0;-1;-1;-1&sku=761427
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