All Time Low, Sleeping With Sirens and Neck Deep @ The Liacouras Center.
Text by McCall Cox. Images by Erin Marhefka.
All Time Low, Sleeping With Sirens and Neck Deep performed at the Liacouras Center at Temple University on Saturday, putting on a mega pop-punk show.
Neck Deep kicked off the evening. The Welsh four-piece band consists of Ben Barlow on vocals, Matt West on guitar, Fil Thorpe-Evans on bass and Dani Washington on drums. The band was high energy as Barlow rasped out the vocals while engaging fans. Barlow threw himself into the crowd during a song, holding on to fans for support. Neck Deep performed songs such as “Gold Steps,” “Can’t Kick Up the Roots” and “A Part of Me.”
Sleeping With Sirens commanded the stage next, opening their set with the song “Kick Me” from their most recent album Madness. Vocalist Kellin Quinn belted the lyrics, combining singing with screaming for the first song and many afterwards. They took fans back to the beginning next with their old hit “Do It Now, Remember It Later.”
The pop rock quintet, which formed in 2009, features Kellin Quinn on vocals, Justin Hills on bass and Gabe Barham on drums while Jack Fowler performs as lead guitarist and Nick Martin operates the rhythm guitar.
“This next song goes out to anyone here who is with their best friend tonight,” Quinn told the audience as the band began playing “Gold.” “This song’s about growing up.”
Later, Quinn sang the chorus to U2’s song “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” mentioning that song’s influence on the Sleeping With Sirens song “The Strays.”
The band slowed then slowed their set down with two acoustic songs, first playing “With Ears To See and Eyes To Hear.” The band took that opportunity to mention the release of a new live acoustic album in the beginning of the new year, the footage for which was recorded during their previous “We Like It Quiet” tour.
Then, when Quinn turned to ask bandmates Fowler and Martin what song they would be performing next, they informed him that they tuned to a song that wasn’t included on the setlist.
“That means it must be ‘Iris,’” Quinn responded, before covering the Goo Goo Dolls track.
The audience lit up the Liacouras Center with phone flashlights, which Quinn referred to as “the coolest thing I’ve seen all tour.”
Quinn took every moment he could to interact with the audience, walking through the crowd between two songs and commending a fan for dressing up as Spiderman.
“We’ve got one more song for you Philly,” said Quinn just before performing “If You Can’t Hang.” “You’ve been amazing. We hope you leave here feeling a little bit better about yourself and grow up to do something fucking amazing with your life.”
Sleeping With Sirens performed a mix of new and old, including songs such as “We Like It Loud,” “Tally It Up Settle The Score,” “Better Off Dead,” and “Congratulations.” They left the audience with well wishes for Thanksgiving and the holiday season.
Approximately 30 minutes before All Time Low took the stage, a member of their personnel came to the microphone to explain the delay in their schedule. He explained that something happened earlier in the evening to affect the band, but assured that it was unrelated to any recent tragedies or threats.
“We just ask that first, you be patient with the band. And second, when they do come out, we ask that you give them all the love and support you can,” the spokesman explained.
All Time Low did take the stage then, beginning their set list with “Satellite.” The band jumped around as per usual to the screams of the audience. The pop punk/rock band, which formed in 2003, hails from Baltimore and is manned by Alex Gaskarth on vocals and guitar, Jack Barakat on lead guitar, Zack Merrick on bass and Rian Dawson on drums. After performing their hits “A Love Like War” and “Lost In Stereo,” Gaskarth took a moment to address the audience.
“We fucking missed you Philly, sorry for keeping you waiting. Thank you for being so understanding,” said the vocalist. He referred to the bands’ Maryland roots, saying, “We’re from Baltimore, which is about an hour away, so we feel like we’re home when we’re here.”
Gaskarth continued to engage the audience, teaching the crowd melodies via call and response and encouraging participation.
All Time Low broke up the energetic set with three acoustic songs, starting with “Cinderblock Garden.” Gaskarth then gave the audience a choice between two All Time Low songs, “Therapy” or “Remembering Sunday.” When the latter received a raucous response, Gaskarth obliged.
About halfway through the song, the lead singer stopped the track when he noticed a fan being pulled over the barrier from the audience.
“Is everyone good? If you see someone fall down, make sure you pick them back up and get them out of the crowd as soon as possible,” he instructed audience members before resuming the song.
Afterward, Gaskarth tossed a few water bottles into the audience to keep fans hydrated, telling them to pass the drinks around to share.
“This song goes out to anyone struggling with something right now, anyone going through something, anyone in pain, anyone hurting,” said Gaskarth before the start of “Missing You.” “Just know that it will get better. You can come out of whatever you’re going through, much stronger and much better for it. We’re all here for you. We’re all just a big family here tonight.”
Gaskarth and Barakat carried on their typical banter between songs as Barakat discussed his post-show plans to listen to new music from Adele and Justin Bieber. Gaskarth added that his bandmate would cover himself in KY gel and dance erratically while listening to both albums simultaneously.
The band later mentioned their 12 years together as All Time Low, thanking fans profusely for allowing such a thing to be possible for them.
“I gotta say man, you guys are making us feel good tonight. We love you guys so much, thank you. Every time we come to this beautiful city, you guys always take good care of us,” Gaskarth said throughout the night.
Following their performance of “Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don’t),” Gaskarth and Barakat opened the floor to more conversation.
“We cannot think of a better way to end our year, so thank you, thank you guys so much,” the vocalist said.
“We decided to end the tour in some of our favorite cities,” Barakat added to cheers from the audience.
“I just want to say one more time, thank you for being understanding of us coming on a little late. We received some very heavy news today, and I’m not going to go into details, but it was a tough night for us to come out on stage and do this. So thank you so fucking much for being amazing,” Gaskarth concluded. The band then launched into the last song of their set, “Old Scars/Future Hearts.”
All Time Low returned for a three song encore of “Kids In The Dark,” “Something’s Gotta Give,” and “Dear Maria,” accompanied by large inflated beach balls and heart shaped confetti.
“We’ll see you soon. Take care of each other out there. Spread love. We’ll see you. Let’s get crazy,” said Gaskarth before “Dear Maria.”
Following the show, when asked about how the tour has been going, Nick Martin of Sleeping With Sirens said it has been fun, despite recent events.
“It’s been a really dark past couple of weeks with things in Paris, with The Ghost Inside and then All Time Low going through some really personal shit tonight,” Martin said. “So, it’s nice to know that we have an awesome community of people that rally together to always take care of each other. That’s the most beautiful thing ever.”
JUMP: The Philly Music Project 
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