A Lesson in Romantics – 10-year Anniversary tour
In life there are so many lessons to be learnt and used to benefit yourself as a constantly growing human.
On waiting in the crowd for Mayday Parade at Southampton Engine Rooms Thursday night, you could feel the anticipation building up just to hear the famous A Lesson in Romantics Album played live and grace their eardrums – By Zoe Marchment. Being warmed up by All Get Out and With Confidence, they were truly ready for the amazing performance by Mayday that was to fall upon us.
Fronted by singer/songwriter Nathan Hussey, All Get Out made a great start to the night playing songs from their latest album Nobody Likes A Quitter.
With Confidence showed an American Preppy Punk Rock side to them with an Aussie twist that lead to an energetic and bouncy performance doing songs such as Voldermort, Keeper and Godzilla to get the crowd warmed up. These guys truly rocked the stage with their catchy lyrics and engaging with the audience all the way throughout the performance definitely one band not to be missed. Similar to bands like American Rejects, The Wonder Years and Mayday Parade themselves, please give them a look.
Upon entering the stage, they opened the set with Jamie All Over and the crowd went wild. You could clearly see that they were ecstatic and excited about hearing their childhood songs being played live in front of them. The crowd singing back to the band made this gig one I’ll always remember. Maydays punchy riffs and catchy lyrics made the atmosphere even more electrifying to the soul. I, myself remember only a few songs from my teenage emo days but was astounded the amount of passion from the band and crowd alike.
Music can be very personal to people and can help them get through strenuous situations that they may find themselves in life. Tonight, you could see that Mayday Parade had touched the hearts and souls at some point to each person who stood around me and they all came together as one.
As the pop-punk tunes flew around the room, the band jumping around the stage which intern got the crowd moving, gave an energetic and fun feeling to the show. The boys had so much enthusiasm which was mirrored back in the audience. The first song had some awesome guitar solos which gave vibes of a ‘classic rock edge’ to the song. Mayday reminded me of similar bands like; Dashboard Confessional, Cute Is What We Aim For, You Me at Six and All Time Low. Songs that followed were a selection from their 10-year-old Album – A Lesson in Romantics such as; Black Cat, Jersey, I’d Hate to Be You When People Find Out What This Song Is About as well as another beautiful song, Terrible Things that was played after the band played the album in full.
The best moment of the night was when Derek Sanders sat down at his keyboard to do a performance of Miserable at Best. Before he finished his first line of the song, the audience had already taken over chanting the lyrics out loud, arms in the air, it was a surreal sight to see and hear. There are literally no words that can explain what I felt at that moment, I filmed a clip below so you can experience this magical and enchanting moment. The song talks about missing someone who you were once very close to and not fully being able to let go of the past, even though you were the one who tore the relationship apart. It is slightly possessive and jealous in parts, but it is so relatable as we’ve all had that ‘one’ that got away, regret is a powerful thing. However, a wonderful piano-driven ballad and definitely worth a listen.