The new guards of pop-punk, All Time Low performed their final show of the year last night.
It was also the final date of their Everyone's Talking! Australian tour, and the band are here to celebrate and see the year out. This Australian run saw them play a massive slot at Good Things Festival on the main stage and two headline sideshows.
Once again, Adelaide has somehow come out on top with an intimate headline show at Hindley Street Music Hall (11 December). It's an extended performance compared to their festival set list and the full All Time Low experience.
Adelaide has been blessed with Good Things Festival sideshows with TOOL a few weeks ago, and Garbage still to come tonight (12 December). Basically, the top-billed Good Things Festival acts have made sure to stop by in Adelaide – lucky us!
Alt-pop four piece Friends of Friends are on first; they lean more towards the pop side than punk, but they're the perfect warm-up for All Time Low. They sound like a homage to 1975, but with more attitude and energy. Singer and guitarist Barnaby Baker's vocals encapsulate this Britpop influence.
Friends of Friends shine on the upbeat electro-pop ear worm 'I Like Ya' and heart-throbbing 'Skin'. By the time they close their 30-minute set with 'Wolfgang', they've definitely gained some fans ahead of their return to the Ed Castle next month (17 January).
"The new stuff they play. . . it's pretty good," this reviewer overhears someone telling their friend reassuringly ahead of All Time Low. This is proven to be an understatement as they open with lead single, 'Suckerpunch'.
Their new album 'Everyone's Talking!' is All Time Low combining their pop-punk songwriting roots with straight-up modern rock. It creates larger than life choruses and sees the band looking more comfortable than ever onstage.
It's not only their last show of their Australian tour, it's their last show of the year and the notoriously care-free quartet are even more laid-back than usual. "Last day of school f... it," jokes frontman Alex Gaskarth. "No rules!" shouts his co-conspirator, lead guitarist Jack Barakat.
Gaskarth has this impossible talent of making his vocals improve with each album as he leans into each distinct era. This translates live as Gaskarth then seamlessly sings the opening lines to their 2009 defining anthem 'Weightless', which sees one of the loudest pops of the night – we're only two songs in.
In 2024, All Time Low released 'The Forever Sessions, Vol.1' a re-recording of their earliest classics they had written as teenagers. When we spoke to Gaskarth ahead of Good Things Festival, he mentioned the aim for these recordings was for these "to sound a bit more like we play them today".
When performed live you can hear the confidence, skill and improved production that has come from 20 years of practice, experience and living the dream. It's a back to back of these classics with 'Weightless', 'Poppin' Champagne' and 'Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)' coming in early.
It's not just the first half of their discography that is favoured, later hits like 'PMA' and 'Sleepwalking' are warmly welcomed. It's a career-spanning set with almost one song from each chapter of their ten albums featured.
The pinnacle of the new album and the live set is 'Little Bit'. It's a punk-rock, guitar-driven battle cry with a new rawness and confidence from the band. It could be a defining single for the band that sees them open an exciting new direction; time will have to tell.
Another highlight comes when, of course, the ballad 'Remembering Sunday' is introduced with Gaskarth's acoustic guitar in hand accompanied by the full band. It's a special moment that's exclusive to these sideshows that didn't make it to the festival sets.
They return for a two-song encore jumping straight into one of the triumphs of the new album 'The Weather'. They slow down for a chat ahead of 'Dear Maria, Count Me In'. "It's our last song of the year," Barakat says. "Yeah, let us milk this for a little bit," adds Gaskarth as they bounce off each other, obviously having zero idea where this section is going, but following the golden rule of 'yes, and...'.
After a number of countdowns for New Year's Eve – seeing as they won't be in Australia for it they decided to celebrate it now – the signature palm-muted guitar announces the final song.
Gaskarth and Barakat launch their guitars through the air to their crew who takeover playing them while the duo run around the stage. Wacky waving, inflatable arm-flailing tubemen rise from the sky and into the air as the audience screams along.
For anyone questioning All Time Low's rise to near-headliner status at Good Things Festival – right beneath TOOL, Weezer, and Garbage – tonight explains it.
