Been awhile since I was able to shoot a show. This time, I got to shoot my first show for Pittsburgh Music Magazine and it was such a cool opportunity.
2 years ago I would never have imagined I’d be here; same venue, same band, but feet from them shooting their show. All Time Low has been one of my all-time (lawlz) favorite bands for several years now so this opportunity was incredible. This post is not going to go in depth, as the bulk of my show review is available in Pittsburgh Music Magazine (read here) Now, without further ado, here is my overview of the show.
The Young Renegades Tour began mid-June and made its stop in Pittsburgh on July 25th to further promote All Time Low’s newest album Last Young Renegade (which is awesome by the way). Accompanying them on the tour were 3 semi-popular bands from all over the country; The Wrecks, Waterparks, and SWMRS.
First up was indie-rock band, The Wrecks. Their set had fans’, already high level of adrenaline, through the roof. Many fans located in the front rows, were screaming each and every lyric with their wide eyes fixated on the band members. Overall, they had a pretty fun, upbeat set.
The next band to come out on stage was Waterparks, a name I was previously familiar with, being so ingrained into the world of smaller bands. Pop-punk in sound, they worked the stage very well and connected with the crowd extremely well. Guitarist, Geoff Wigington, even went on the big side speakers, playing closer to the fans. They were such a fan favorite and had a great set overall.
Lastly, before the main event of course, was pop-punk band, SWMRS. They had quite an interesting set… lol. Lead singer, Cole Becker, came out wearing a polka dot dress, so it was weird from the get-go. BUT it was awesome for my photos because it created some crazy cool shots. Jack Barakat, of ATL, amped up the crowd more for their set by accompanying SWMRS for their first song. Despite putting on a weird set, they were awesome and very much so enjoyable.
And now here we are; the part of my post where I talk about the real reason I was shooting this show… All Time Low. As previously mentioned, 2 years ago, I attended their Future Hearts Tour stop in Pittsburgh and remember thinking about how cool it would be to truly take pictures of them, not with just with my little Lumix digital camera, lol. Little did I know I’d be here telling the world how awesome of an experience that was.
As the lights went low and the background music blared, fans went wild awaiting the first glimpse of the Baltimore natives. I even found my own heart skip a beat seeing their bodies show up in their rightful positions on stage. The lights came on and I swear the ground shook from the bursts of excitement. They began the show, strong, with “Last Young Renegade”, my favorite song off of the new album. The fans, including myself, screamed every word.
A couple songs later and after Jack threw some salt at the Pittsburgh Steelers, they played a couple oldies and some more recently released songs, before pulling the heart strings of the entire crowd. Playing “Missing You”, a song about fighting depression and anxiety, struck tears from most of the eyes glued to the stage. They then lightened the mood with a couple upbeat tunes before making the crowd emotional again. All band members left the stage, leaving Alex Gaskarth accompanied by his guitar. He serenaded the crowd with “Therapy”, another tune about depression and the constant battle that is life. Guarantee that there was plenty of ugly crying, seeing as though it’s a song that more than likely got a lot of people there through a lot of shit in their lives.
Following this, they played a couple more upbeat songs, old and new, before bringing about 15-20 fans on stage during “Time-Bomb”. Fans sang along with their favorite band on stage and pumped up the crowd. What a cool opportunity and certainly a dream come true.
They continued with “Good Times” before ‘ending’ the show. As if it wasn’t expected, after fans screamed their name, they came back on stage to do 3 more songs. They ended the night with the ever so popular, “Dear Maria Count Me In”, which if you don’t know it, you live under a rock. My boyfriend was even picking me up from the show and texted the lyrics to me in all caps, lol.
What an absolutely unforgettable night. You can read my full review in Pittsburgh Music Magazine (here)! As always, my favorites from each band, are showcased at the bottom of this post and the rest can be seen here!
Let me know what you all think of the photos/review, my article in PMM, or even All Time Low and their new album! Feel free to share this on all social medias too.
Abigail McNatt Photography 