All Time Low at The Olympia Theatre, Dublin on March 19th 2014-03-banner

All Time Low at The Olympia Theatre, Dublin, 19th March 2014

Tonight All Time Low return to Dublin for their second time in three days, playing to a nearly full Olympia Theatre. The atmosphere is incredible. But, before the main act take to the stage, they are joined by two Irish bands to warm up.

First up is Blood Or Whiskey. The celtic-punk band’s music gets the crowd dancing early on, but it borders on gimmicky at times, and their on-stage antics are slightly awkward and embarrassing. Only Rivals, however, do impress. The Dubliners seem to already have a bit of a following. Songs such as Surgery  and History are very enjoyable, and point to a band with huge potential.

Before All Time Low take to the stage the crowd is already chanting their name at a deafening volume, which acts as a pretty good indication of what is to follow.  Tonight’s set is delightfully filled with a mixture of older and newer songs, with songs coming from all eras of the band are performed to the same high standard and intensity.

Newer songs such as The Irony of Choking On A Lifesaver and Oh, Calamity! are performed seamlessly and get a great reaction, as these songs are filled with sounds fitting with both early and more recent definitions of the band.  Songs from their debut album ‘The Party Scene’ such as Vegas are performed brilliantly and still get a decent  reception, although unfortunately noticeably less so than others.

In between songs the band has fun with the crowd, chatting away and making jokes. Sometimes the banter is slightly too immature, it can be awkward – mostly from guitarist Jack Barakat – but this is noted by Alex Gaskarth. It is pretty easy to forgive them for this seeing as it’s a tiny blip in an otherwise brilliant performance.

Moreover, it’s this kind of thing that made them who they are. It borders on charming and helps to show the characters of the individuals within the band. It’s one of the things that has made them so predominant and so loveable. So should the fact that they’ve grown up mean that they should stop making childish jokes?

Not necessarily. For some of the older crowd it may be embarrassing, but the majority of the crowd seem to love it, and it shows that the band are having fun on stage too. Their antics, and the moments that they have with each other, whether it’s chatting or just the little laughs and smiles that they give each, other are what make this band endearing.

A very special moment of the night is when Gaskarth takes to the stage alone to perform Therapy and Remembering Sunday. His voice is truly impressive, and has improved massively in the last few years.

Aside from this quiet and moving moment, the set is very high in energy. This is particularly noticeable in songs such as Time Bomb where they get some fans up on stage  and Barakat climbs up the balcony and finishes playing the song from one of the boxes.

In a set that is just under two hours long, the Baltimore foursome show that they know how to put on a show. No matter how many times you see them, it’s always different, impressive, and enjoyable. It is this type of performance that makes them one of the biggest bands  in pop-punk.

All Time Low Photo Gallery

Photos: Shaun Neary

Only Rivals Photo Gallery

Blood Or Whiskey Photo Gallery