A Decade After Breaking Out And With A Stellar New Album In Tow, Paramore Is Older, Wiser And Well Aware Of What Its Fans Want.
Hayley Williams knows her audience.
Better still, she knew her audience at the Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie this past Saturday night, and understood that it was filled with fans that have supported her band Paramore for more than a decade now.
“Think about where you were 10 years ago,” the singer implored her audience from the stage at this show before Paramore launched into a run of tracks off 2007’s Riot, the album that launched the band around the world after its release. “What were you even wearing? Ten years ago was just… a better time.”
The fans at this show surely agreed with that sentiment. As they joined Williams and sang at the top of their lungs to “Misery Business”, every single one of the surely flashed back to dreams of wanting orange hair styled just like Hayley’s was then, back when they were all just these little punk rock neophytes and not the grown-up they are today.
But things have only changed so much. Ten years later, Paramore is still churning out hits, as evidenced by this year’s After Laughter LP, perhaps the best-reviewed release the band’s ever had, and this crowd’s reaction to its songs.
Even opening act Best Coast was smitten with the headliners, with singer Bethany Cosentino raving during her own set about her fandom.
Paramore lived up to that hype and expectation on this night, too. Coming out on stage with fervor, the band performed a lively set on a colorful stage, all while eating up the adoration of the sold-out venue. It was everything any Paramore fan could’ve wanted, with Williams regularly interacting with the fans up front and engaging best she could with those in the back of the room, too.
Ten years in Paramore knows its audience. But, more important, it knows what its audience wants.