Ya gotta give Paramore credit. It seems like no single group works harder to bring their music to the masses. Since the 2007 release of their breakthrough album, Riot, they seemingly have been on the road every night, so much so that they managed to release two, count em', two live albums from the tour. Whether appearing as headliners in smaller venue or as openers for larger acts, you get the feeling the band would play your Bat Mitzvah if you asked them real nice like.
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Paramore
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 Entertainment
 Art
House of Blues
Chicago, IL
October 10, 2009
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Their headlining appearance at House Of Blues on Saturday the 10th marked the fourth time since Riot's release Paramore has played in front of a live Chicago audience. This time, however, they have a new album - Brand New Eyes - on which to draw from. When the hell did they have time to record it?
Eyes could be described as their attempt at a "grown up" album, and the HOB set reflected the cynicism slowly creeping into the once bratty emo/faux-punk world of singer Hayley Williams and crew. In a show book ended by and "intro" and an "outro" (kinda screams grown-up show, doesn't it?) Williams' disillusionment reared its head in songs like "Turn It Off" where she rails about how "it's getting harder to believe in anything", or when she addresses the rumors of the band's breakup on both "Looking Up" and "Where The Lines Overlap."
However, lest you think that this Paramore is all gloom and doom these days, on stage they know which side of the bread contains the margarine. Raucous run-throughs of "Misery Business" and "Crush Crush Crush" kept the mostly female crowd delighted, and what must have been the bane of the House of Blues bartender's existence, since the crowd was also about 75% below the drinking age. Williams also incited the crowd to mimic her dervish-like pogo-ing on "That's What You Get,"
causing the HOB floor to shake in ways one wouldn't think possible and remain standing. Kudos to the city's building code.
All of this brings up an interesting point. Throughout their history Paramore has said (to anyone that will listen) that it's not "Hayley Williams and Paramore," but an equal partnership in every way. While I have no doubt that in the studio and within the personal dynamics of the group that this is clearly the case, the past couple of years have honed the band (guitarists Josh Farro and Taylor York, bassist Jeremy Davis, and drummer Zac Farro) into an unquestionably tight unit. But the court of public opinion rendered its verdict long ago, for better or worse. They may think that they could draw the same crowds or garner the same publicity without her, but that dog just don't hunt.
And while they might be a bit jaded by the unforgiving rigors of the big bad music biz, here's hoping that they don't screw it all up by growing up too fast.
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