All Time Low & You Me At Six | O2 Arena 2015

22 Aug 2014...

"Oh hey mum, You Me At Six AND All Time Low are co-headlining the O2 arena..." "Let's get tickets!" 

I'd only just bought tickets to see ATL at Wembley the week before the tour announcement and I'd just seen YMAS at T-in The Park in the previous month, but my mum knows how much I adore both bands so wanted to treat me. That was that, on the 28th thanks to pre-sales I got tickets for valentines day.

I first saw You Me At Six at Norwich UEA in March 2010, (here's some footage I recorded of The Consequence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWmdUMiS0KA ) they were touring with their second album Hold Me Down, which is my personal favourite. I still remember the feeling I had when I heard the sirens and search lights were circling the crowd, I can also still picture the moment Max sprayed water over us haha.

I first saw All Time Low in February 2012 at Hammersmith Apollo, (here's Do You Want Me Dead from the night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMDTVdBbME4 ) although we were quite far back, their music filled the room and I remember just loving every single minute of it, they turned into a band I wanted to see every chance I got, just from the sheer enjoyment.

My first gig of 2015 arrived...

14th February 2015...

I traveled down to Stratford on Saturday morning with ma mere and my friend Jo, a usual 1hr 40 train ride turned into a 2hr 20 long ass train and bus ride because of weekend rail-works. Damn. We met with our other friend - Jess - who came from Uni in Canterbury. The best hotel we could find for Valentines Day was Premier Inn at Westfields, to be honest when we got there we got a most excellent view over the Olympic Park so we didn't really care.

Our view.

We had some pre-gig cocktails at Giraffe and after me forgetting my phone - only me of course - we were on our way to the O2. I reassured my friends the ratio of lads:fangirls was high, that was proven true as soon as we walked in. Over the years I've gone to a few more rockier shows, I'm pleased boys aren't ashamed to like either band's music, you get a few young female fans who scream endlessly and pretend to a certain extent to 'like' a band a gigs. I'd say you can spot these people out a mile away... but that's for another blog post. I was surprised to join the queue where we did, if anyone's been to the O2 (obviously it varies at every event) this was the first time we were already in the queue by the Brooklyn Bowl, we still had to snake around near the entrance to the GA area but it was pretty smooth shuffling from 6.30. When we got into the venue Walk The Moon were on, I'd already done my background check on them - Learning a few lyrics and what not so i had a heads up on their set. I absolutely love Shut Up and Dance, they're new track. As a support act, they did a great job, I was hyped up, they have very catchy lyrics and beat.

All Time Low burst on stage after quite a long intro to their set, but who cares, It got me even more pumped. Last year, the band had Paris by JayZ & Kanye played out before they hit the stage, so I knew it was only a matter of time when that was played. The setlist was absolutely perfect this tour, I don't think I could fault it one bit, as soon as I saw it I was like 'holy moly, this is going to be even more INSANE than I previously thought!' Before hand, on the first night of tour, I was repeatedly refreshing twitter waiting for someone to reveal the setlist. I'm all for checking out the setlist prior to the gig, as I believe there's nothing worse than when you're seeing your favourite band and a song pops up from- I don't know- say their first album which you think you know by heart... (this is more for if you're going for front row) ...you look a bit of a fool not knowing the words. Also having taught myself how to look at things creatively and look at a set-up for great photographic shots, I always find video footage to see how the band performs a song live or see when the piro is about to explode. I keep a mental note of these moments so I can capture it on the night - Confetti cannons are my favourite thing ever. Other than the part where Alex said the venue was Wembley and not O2, the best part of the set was Therapy. It's always been an emotional song but Alex was just on stage with his guitar singing, almost 20,000 people in front of him - waving their arms and lights. I panned the room and it looked amazing, I was in awe. He let the crowd sing the lyrics and the sound filled the arena. It was surprising - the crowd almost made up an even amount of fans, maybe a few more YMAS ones to be fair. But it's a greatly matched co-headline tour that you'd know songs by both bands. As usual Alex, Rian, Zack & especially Jack were their humorous inappropriate selves- commenting on the premature topless female fan & Rian's hand gesture with his bottle while the camera was on Alex.

All Time Low | O2 Arena 14th February 2015

At 9.30pm You Me At Six took to the stage beginning their set with Room To Breathe - introducing each member one by one. Josh was last on, bringing vocals to the song, his hood was up, I kind of squealed at the sight of his figure centre stage. There was some serious lighting through their set and I don't think I've ever seen such great background visuals, a giant screens was set up behind them completely across the stage. One of my favourite ones was for Forgive and Forget, they had a desert-like road which the camera sped down. As well, for the 'Oh woahs' at the end of the song Josh had the whole crowd sing it back to him before leaving the stage, it was amazing, I think I lost my voice from shouting. I had a sudden realisation that it was the last part of the set, the last chance to go nuts and as soon as the chorus of Bite My Tongue hit and fireworks burst across the stage, I just let go, pushing through all those boring people who were stationary in front of us created a mini mosh between the 4 of us. Fresh Start Fever was the most memorable part of the set, I made my friends join me with spinning in circles and fist pumping the air. It was so much fun, we danced until the end of the concert, I even realised I'd pulled a muscle in my shoulder. I'm so bloody hardcore. hahaha. I absolutely screamed 'We are believers!' with the rest of the crowd until the confetti cannons exploded, then I just screamed for joy. Once the band left the stage fans started to push through us but we slowly moved forward and just celebrated with a group huddle in the centre of the O2, a beautiful moment with my 3 favourite people.

This has to be the best valentines day I've ever had.

You Me At Six | O2 Arena 14th February 2015

(This has been saved in my drafts since February, so sorry I'm only now posting it.)