It has been almost two years since A Day To Remember last played in the UK and tonight they make their return playing the KOKO in Camden. After such a long time away some were starting to doubt whether people still cared about A Day To Remember. But after tonight’s show sold out in an hour i’ts clear that A Day To Remember are more popular than ever.
First up though was Your Demise, playing one of their final London shows as a band tonight was always going to be a special show for them. Launching into “Push Me Under” pits opened immediately and the entire room was bouncing. Your Demise have always been an incredibly fun band to see live and tonight was no different. Front-man Ed McRae constantly calls for crowd surfers throughout the set and the crowd respond with swarms of fans flying over the barrier and the band play with an incredible amount of energy and passion. Despite being a late addition to the line up there was still a large amount of Your Demise fans here, which shows that they were a fantastic choice to open. Ending with regular set closer “The Kids We Used To Be” always ends things on a high as Ed joins the fans in the crowd during the songs final chorus. (9)
Despite the great reaction for Your Demise, it was nothing compared to the moment A Day To Remember stepped onstage. Opening with new song “Violence (Enough Is Enough)” resulted in absolute chaos and following this with “2nd Sucks” kept the intensity up with every fan screaming the words and constantly moving. From here on ADTR continued to fire out fan favourite’s and didn’t let up, when they can play a song as good as “I’m Made Of Wax Larry, What Are You Made Of?” four songs into a set and still top it later shows how many great songs ADTR have. They are also a band who know how to have fun, with beach balls being thrown into the crowd on “All Signs Point To Lauderdale” and t-shirts thrown during “Better Off This Way”. The energy from the band and the crowd just doesn’t stop, even on softer songs like “Have Faith In Me”, it all results in what is probably one of the sweatiest shows ever at the KOKO. A Day To Remember even play “Another Song About The Weekend” for the first time anywhere in Europe and this gets an incredible reaction. It’s clear that after being away so long, ADTR are happy to be back playing a show in the UK. Front-man Jeremy McKinnon even gets quite emotional at points due to the reaction they receive. A Day To Remember offer another taste of the upcoming album Common Courtesy with “Right Back At It Again” before “The Plot To Bomb The Panhandle” brings their main set to a close. Finally everyone is given a break during the first part of A Day To Remember’s encore as they play a short acoustic set, with an acoustic version of “It’s Complicated” being a nice surprise for fans before “If It Means A Lot To You” results in the biggest singalong of the night. “All I Want” and “The Downfall Of Us All” see one last burst of energy from the band and the crowd with the final pits opening up and fans crowd surfing again before the fans are showered in confetti at the very end. (10)
It is great to have A Day To Remember back after such a long time. It’s clear that when they do play a full UK tour they will play venue’s much bigger than the KOKO and they really deserve to. During the set Jeremy states that A Day To Remember might not be the best band but they care and its clear he really means it. Most fans tonight would disagree with the first part of that statement as A Day To Remember have proved themselves to be on of the best bands in both the Pop-Punk and Metalcore scenes. Mark my words, A Day To Remember are taking over the world. (10)
samjdignon 