Live Review: All Time Low – Live In The UK Tour – Brixton Academy

Thousands ascended down to London’s Brixton Academy Wednesday night to see pop-punk legends All Time Low for the first night of their five night tour. You could feel the energy in the air – that had built up over the past two years of on and off lockdowns – ready to be released as fans waited around the block by the venue, some of which had waited eagerly outside since five in the morning.

The show opened with New Jersey female pop punkers, Meet Me At The Altar. Their brand of high energy songs managed to see them bouncing round the stage, bringing fans their first dose of post pandemic concert relief. Despite a few sound issues, the band’s high energy didn’t stop right until the very end of their set.

The Maine followed to give fans their final warm up before the main event. Despite frontman John O’Callaghan teasing a “22 song” set – which the crowd didn’t seem too disappointed by the prospect of – the band played through a 9 song set including all their hits like ‘Sticky’, ‘Numb Without You’, and ‘Black Butterflies & Déjà Vu’. John really knows how to get a crowd going, trying to incorporate everyone in the room all the time, continually asking the concert goers “to dance like you know this one”, and frequently allowing moments for fans to lose themselves in the music.

After a short introduction from the band’s AI Sharon, the crowd went crazy as All Time Low jumped onto the stage, kicking their set off with ‘Some Kind of Disaster’, the first of many bangers that the band bounced through across the night. With huge grins on their faces you could tell that the band were excited to be back in London, ready to bring some much needed live music to the thousands of fans that filled the room. The band also didn’t hold back releasing their first lot of confetti of the night during this track.

Performing flawlessly throughout Alex Gaskarth and co worked their way through their sixteen song setlist, which mixed songs from their latest album, like ‘Clumsy’ and ‘Glitter & Crimson’, with old classics like ‘Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don’t)’ and ‘Weightless’. ‘Monsters’ and ‘Dear Maria, Count Me In’ closed out the evening in the encore, what an amazing way to finish!

It was good to see some excellent visuals matching up with the songs, and even with AI Sharon who returned several times throughout the night to provide brief funny transitions between some of the tracks. Despite the great visuals, nothing was more stunning than during ‘Glitter & Crimson’ where Alex asked fans to hold up their phone lights, making a sea of lights across the venue.

All Time Low managed to put on one hell of a performance, bringing some much needed noise to one of London’s iconic venues that has seen little action over the past two years. The pop-punkers didn’t disappoint, it’s hard to believe this was just the start for their tour… and what a start it was.