On their second tour after the release of their arguably disappointing album, Nothing Personal, All Time Low has decided to switch things up… well, some things. With their opening acts including The Friday Night Boys, Hey Monday and We the Kings, it seems as if it’s impossible to escape certain bands these days because they all tour in the same, minute circle. This summer All Time Low did a short, two week run with We The Kings and Cartel. Earlier in the year the band also toured with Hey Monday in support of Fall Out Boy, and late last year All Time Low did a string of holiday shows with The Friday Night Boy. It’s becoming tiring.

The Friday Night Boys deserve honorable mention in this lineup for having actually brought something new to the table. With the release of their full length earlier this year, they played a string of new and considerably enjoyable songs that warmed up the crowd nicely. Hey Monday, having been on perhaps three or four tours(including one headliner) with just one album have almost barely changed their set at all. The band has become somewhat of a nag to sit through…unless you’re into that. We The Kings have a somewhat similar dilemma because you really only want to hear aboutJuliet so many times before you’re prepared to gauge your eyes out. Perhaps once their new album, Smile, Kid, comes out, the liveliness of their set will return but until then, they have virtually the same set and appeal that they had on their headlining tour early last year.

Opening with one of the more enjoyable songs off of their latest release, “Lost in Stereo”, All Time Low has thankfully never forgotten how to be a crowd-pleaser. Unfortunately there’s plenty of disappointment in store for the “old school” fans because the only old song they’re going to get is the obvious… “Jasey Rae”.  See now, this is where we have an enormous problem. When even favorites such as “Coffee Shop Soundtrack” and “The Party Scene” don’t make it onto their set, but songs like “Dear Maria” and the almost sickeningly terrible “Too Much” do, it really makes you wonder exactly what the band was thinking. All negativity aside however, their set was fun. After flipping the mood completely and playing “Remembering Sunday” followed by “Therapy”, what came next is something that no one would have expected. The medley that followed was something you would either enjoy, or be disgusted by. The positives of this medley are that it included about thirty seconds of crowd favorites such as “This Is How We Do”, “Coffee Shop Sound Track”, “Let It Roll” and “The Girls a Straight Up Hustler”. The negative aspect to this is that if you were going to this show in hopes of hearing any of these songs, this is probably the last way you’d want to see them performed.

Overall, the night was enjoyable. As usual, regardless of whether or not you liked their choice of songs, it would be difficult to say that you didn’t enjoy All Time Low’s set.Perhaps things will change on their next tour and they’ll play a more diverse stretch of songs. Or maybe they won’t. Perhaps Nothing Personal needs its chance to be in the spotlight and I understand that completely. However, for now let’s hope that All Time Low will jump out of the touring clique that they’ve been a part of because, honestly, if I have to hear about Homecomings or Skyway Avenue one more time, heads will roll.

Review by Clarisse Hansard

Photos by Ali Carcache