Review - Yellowcard - Manchester Academy 2 - Wednesday 30th November 2011

Opening doors at 7.35pm and then sticking the opening act The Wonder Years on at 7.40pm is a criminal mistake, but the band make the most of their 20 minutes by sounding great. It's a shame that they play to a bare room, as they really do deserve much, much more. Regardless, they play as though their lives depend on it, but 20 minutes worth of stage time for a band tipped for big things really does not do them justice. Local Man Ruins Everything is a highlight, but Summers In PA would have blown the roof off, had they had enough time to play it.

I missed the excellent Came Out Swinging which opened the set, which wasn’t a good thing, but they made a great mark on the small crowd they had. Closing on a one-two of older tracks Logan’s Circle and Washington Square Park, they will undoubtedly have better nights when they get given the chance to shine.

Saves The Day were up next. By no means a fan of theirs, I had only ever casually listened to the odd track here or there. Although billed as a co-headliner, it was clear from the outset that the majority of the crowd were here to see Yellowcard alone. As such, the band received a rather muted response for the duration of a set that should have lasted no more than 30 minutes tops. Billed as co-headliners though, they plough on for 1 hour and 10 minutes with varying results.

They do have some great songs in their arsenal, but the quality seemed too few and far between, with what became an arduous task of endurance for a crowd waiting for their Yellowcard fix. As the set trailed on, bemused punters were looking around at one another wondering just how long they would continue to play on for.

When it worked, they sounded great, but it was all too few and far between for me. The small section of the devoted fanbase seemingly enjoyed their set, but for me it was a little long-winded. However, they did have some very good songs in places, and on a headline set, they would go down a storm with their own fanbase.

As Yellowcard finally took to the stage at 10pm, the venue was ready for lift off. As they burst into a blistering rendition of For You And Your Denial, the single that marked their return from hiatus, lift off is exactly what they achieve.

The crowd go mental from the opening chord, and proceed to lose their shit time and time again over the course of a 60 minute set that goes by all too fast. Alongside that, the baying throng respond in kind to every song by singing as though their lives depend on it, each track a bonafide anthem of mammoth proportions, with skyscraper hooks time and time again.

Bleeding straight into the seminal Way Away after the opening salvo is ingenious, as the band kick it into the stratosphere, and violinist Sean Mackin takes to the air to perform his staple closing backflip as that beat kicks right back in to close the number. From that moment, you know it’s going to be one of those very special nights. It’s just likes it’s 2004 again.


But tonight is no nostalgia fest. The new material from the simply breathtaking When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes sits comfortably alongside older material, a triple threat of See Me Smiling, the Saves The Day referencing With You Around and The Sound Of You And Me slotting seamlessly into the middle of the set alongside the classics.

Elsewhere, Only One is an awe inspiring moment, as the crowd carry the chorus off into the night sky, before the violin soaked Believe reminds everyone just how great that Ocean Avenue record was from start to finish (like anyone in this building tonight needed reminding!) Emotional run throughs of Hang You Up and Sing For Me sound even better live than on record, before the encore of Lights and Sounds and Ocean Avenue closes the nights proceedings.

The latter track is an anthem of epic proportions, and as front man Ryan Key ends the night atop of the front row of the band’s audience, it is clear that their return has been very much worth the wait. There are not many better moments in pop punk than the part of that track where it fades out and blasts back into action to send it home.

Awesome stuff.

In fact, the whole set ends all too soon for the fans who are reminded just why these guys were so good the first time round, and why it is such a big deal to have them back around.

Before they took to the stage, I overheard one guy say “they’re shit” and proclaim that they would never top the performance of Saves The Day. He couldn’t have been any more wrong. Tonight was all about one band alone, and they made the night theirs with awesome showmanship, great musicianship, and a bucketload of some of the finest pop punk tunes around.

Unstoppable.

Setlist - For You, And Your Denial / Way Away / Shrink the World / Rough Landing, Holly / Light Up The Sky / See Me Smiling / With You Around / The Sound of You and Me / Only One / Breathing / Cut Me, Mick / Believe / Sing For Me (Acoustic)/ Hang You Up / Lights and Sounds / Ocean Avenue

Setlist – Saves The Day - All-Star Me / See You / Deranged & Desperate / The End /
Cars & Calories / Shoulder to the Wheel / Let It All Go / Third Engine / Dying Day /
Anywhere With You / 1984 / Freakish /Eulogy / Kaleidoscope / Z / Nightingale /
Firefly / Rocks Tonic Juice Magic / Sell My Old Clothes, I'm Off to Heaven / Daybreak / At Your Funeral

Setlist – The Wonder Years - Came Out Swinging / Melrose Diner / Local Man Ruins Everything / Don't Let Me Cave In / Logan Circle / Washington Square Park