Live Review: Yellowcard, Mayday Parade

Bursting straight into Jersey then Kids In Love, it's clear Mayday Parade still have a strong pull on pop punk lovers today, though they're well past their 2007 prime. The mix is way off — the bass and rhythm guitar are mixed so low it's largely overpowered by the lead. Derek Sanders' vocals aren't as tight as they once were — he regularly slips out of time and pitch, though the band remains cohesive. They pound through songs like summer staple, Jamie All Over, the country twangs of Hold Onto Me, the angsty When You Get Home You're So Dead, a disco-ball illuminated Miserable At Best and Three Cheers For Five Years; a mix of old and new, though it's obscenely obvious A Lesson In Romantics garners the most excitable response.  

Pop punk kids between sets are always funny to watch — in seconds, they melt together to create a 200-strong choir to sing along to nostalgic pop punk numbers like Sum 41's In Too Deep, Fall Out Boy's Saturday and Saosin's Voices.

Yellowcard make a dramatic entrance with Sean Mackin on violin with Convocation; the rest of the band enter the stage with such poise and confidence it's easy to understand why they've been around so long. Transmission Home makes it clear from the get-go the band still have rockstar status: Ryan Key is able to commandeer the crowd's every move effortlessly. They play Crash The Gates, Lights And Sounds, Breathing, For You And Your Denial, Only One and Light Up The Sky, the crowd's moshing and fist-pumping so picture perfect you'd expect to see it on marketing material for a live music venue. Their mix is perfect and the quintet encapsulates arena-ready finesse and energy. With You Around invites a huge singalong from the crowd for its sun-kissed, not-a-care-in-the-world ethos, while Mackin introduces Believe with that violin line and by sharing he lost someone back home today. They pack up their "most amazing set all year" with the corkers Way Away and of course, Ocean Avenue.