All Time Low - Basement Noise Concert Series
I spent the first weekend of the new year watching All Time Low’s Basement Noise concert series and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend it with the current lockdown. As I may have mentioned over the last year I really love live music and miss it so much, I have written about some of the other virtual concerts I have watched here on the blog already, and I wasn’t planning to write about these for you but as I was watching them I felt the need to share.
All Time Low were my most streamed artist of 2020 on my Spotify, unsurprising to my family and though they may not be the best band out there or have the most complicated songs I find a relief with their music because it’s fun and uplifting, the songwriting is good and they’re so catchy. The Basement Noise concert series was their answer to the pandemic and not being able to tour live. It consists of 5 live shows, with the proceeds going to their touring crew who couldn’t work this year, there was a play through of Wake Up, Sunshine in full, and then a set curated by each of the band members. This to me was like a best of All Time Low, there was a bit of everything in the setlist’s, from some of their biggest and best songs to some that have never been played live before in what can be argued to be their best setting, live.
Wake Up, Sunshine is an album I love and have listened to countless times since it’s release. It was made to be played live, I have been imagining hearing these songs live all year and when I heard that they would be doing a play through of the album in full I was very excited. The album has grown on me more throughout the year too, as if that was possible, and I don’t think there’s a song on it that I don’t enjoy so for me a play through of this album is incredible, and something I’m not sure we would have seen otherwise. The only three songs that had been played live before with the whole band were Some Kind Of Disaster, Sleeping In and Getaway Green and that was before the album was released all the way back in January and February of last year. All of these songs sounded great, and I can’t pick what my stand outs were as I genuinely enjoyed seeing them all being performed. Basement Noise live can be kind of emotional though, knowing what it means to the band and what it’s written about.
The energy of course is boundless and the playing by all members of the band is on point as always, you can tell that they are genuinely really happy to be playing together again, even if it’s to an audience they can’t see. I think this era of All Time Low is one of their best, they are refined in their techniques and songwriting style, producing some of their best songs and sounding the best they ever have. I think Alex Gaskarth’s voice is better now than ever as well. However, hearing some of the older songs being performed is nostalgic and fun to see as well, so I am really glad they decided to chose different sets to perform and make their concert series.
The second set was drummer Rian Dawson’s choice setlist. As soon as it started I was hooked, the choice of songs was great, it was high energy and there were some of my favourite songs here. I really enjoyed watching this set, and it was a great one to start with as well. Though the band may have complained that Rian chose all the hard songs and put them all after one another…I think my favourites performed here were Kicking & Screaming, Cinderblock Garden, Nightmares, Life Of The Party, Kids In The Dark, Backseat Serenade and Old Scars / Future Hearts. I really enjoyed the whole thing, and it’s this set that made me want to write this post.
Rian’s Choice Setlist -
Kicking & Screaming
Dancing With A Wolf
Cinderblock Garden
Paint You Wings (Live Debut)
Under A Paper Moon
Nightmares (Live Debut)
Life Of The Party
Kids In The Dark
Stay Awake (Dreams Only Last For A Night)
Backseat Serenade
Clumsy
Old Scars / Future Hearts
The third set was bassist Zack Merrick’s choice setlist, again a very strong selection of songs here, the first half being more recent songs and the second half with some classic All Time Low songs that are definitely fan favourites. Starting with Everything Is Fine was a fun way to start, going from Missing You to Therapy was made to make people cry, and finishing on Weightless in true All Time Low style was euphoric. My favourites here were Everything Is Fine, Dark Side Of Your Room, Just the Way I’m Not, Dirty Laundry, Missing You, Therapy, Guts, Walls, Weightless.
Zack’s Choice Setlist -
Everything Is Fine
Dark Side Of Your Room
Melancholy Kaleidoscope
Just The Way I’m Not (Live debut)
Thanks To You (Live debut)
Dirty Laundry
Take Cover
Missing You
Therapy
Guts
Walls
Weightless
The penultimate set was frontman Alex Gaskarth’s choice of set. There were a lot more older ones here that haven’t been played as much, especially in the first half. The middle run of Sleeping In, Something’s Gotta Give and Birthday was very strong, and it was nice to see some love for Afterglow at the end. My favourites here were Do You Want Me (Dead?), Six Feet Under The Stars, To Live And Let Go, Something’s Gotta Give, Birthday, Afterglow, Monsters.
Alex’s Choice Setlist -
Do You Want Me (Dead?)
Six Feet Under The Stars
To Live And Let Go (Live Debut)
Return The Favour (Live Debut)
Sleeping In
Something’s Gotta Give
Birthday
A Daydream Away (Live Debut)
Drugs & Candy
Afterglow
Monsters
Finally, the last set was guitarist Jack Barakat’s choice of set. The band called this one the “I used to listen to All Time Low in high school” set, affectionately of course. However, that name really sums this set up, a lot of older All Time Low classics here, old set list staples such as Break Your Little Heart, Poppin’ Champagne, and Jasey Rae. This set was really fun and the band looked like they were having a lot of fun. It was also really nice to see Tidal Waves being performed here, and of course ending with Dear Maria, Count Me In was going to be fun. My favourites performed here were Lost In Stereo, Runaways, The Reckless And The Brave, Time-Bomb, Poppin’ Champagne, Safe, Tidal Waves, Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don’t), Dear Maria, Count Me In.
Jack’s Choice Setlist -
Lost In Stereo
Runaways
The Beach
Break Your Little Heart
The Reckless And The Brave
Time-Bomb
Poppin’ Champagne
Safe
Tidal Waves
Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don’t)
Jasey Rae
Dear Maria, Count Me In
Overall these shows were really fun to watch and I really enjoyed them, they were really fun and for me just completely summed up All Time Low as a band. A good way to start the year, especially in lockdown. It would be really cool if they released these shows as an album on streaming services or something as the performances were really good and they played some songs they’ve never played before. Or maybe I just want a way to keep the shows.
Thank you so much for reading through this rambling post about a virtual concert series, I’m glad you made it to the end. I will leave links to All Time Low below along with our social media links. Please don’t forget that you can subscribe to the blog and be reminded when anything new is posted, until next time…
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