A Day To Remember, The Brighton Centre, 15/11/2014

A Day To Remember on UK soil is always exciting. They draw big crowds of passionate kids and they perform their hearts out every single gig. This tour, aptly named "All Signs Point To Britain", sees the band in random places across the country that they haven't been to in a long time and lucky for me that means a trip to a now pretty cold, but never the less awesome, Brighton.

The Brighton Centre, situated along the seafront, is a big and empty feeling building. It has no
character and it's stage is housed in what is probably a by-day conference hall. It doesn't feel like the sort of venue you'd find a band as colourful as A Day To Remember in. The feel of this building is only made more apparent by both support acts, Decade and Lower Than Atlantis. Decade have been lucky enough to be out on the road with some big names now but they still seem to be nondescript. They're a decent band and they can perform live but there's nothing special there. Lower Than Atlantis, on the other hand, should be making this place come to life. There's a large handful of kids in their merchandise and there's movement among the crowd, but there's also a lingering disappointment in the air. Lower Than Atlantis' most recent album is what they largely play and it just isn't great. Mike Duce gives the crowd the "I'm a rockstar" talk and it doesn't sit well. At one point, Mike asks the crowd to "flail around like dickheads" to which a guy in the crowd replied "there's only one dickhead in this room and that's you." Sadly, he's correct. This wasn't their greatest gig.

After a difficult 90 minutes, it was finally time for A Day To Remember to grace the stage. No set, just the Common Courtesy (their latest album) backdrop, meant they were out as themselves for all to see and still the only way to describe them is incredible. From the get go, Jeremy McKinnon was back and forth the length of the stage, singing to the crowd, blowing kisses and hi-fiving the kids that love this band so much. The rest of the band were the same, constantly including the crowd in their performance and that's something that is special with this band. Every moment of the gig is for the audience, a huge thank you and reciprocation of appreciation. They're sound as loud as ever (my ears are still recovering!) meant Jeremy's vocals were bare and the music was under the spotlight. It was all on point, not once was there a faulter and again, that is testament to their pledge to give back to the fans at these shows. The setlist was awesome, jam packed of the old, the new and the favourites and of course, after a short interlude of the Macarena, Jeremy got in his inflatable hamster ball and ran across the heads of a thousand fans. It was crazy, ridiculous and above all it was one to remember.

I cannot stress enough how awesome A Day To Remember are as a live band. The emotion of the music translates and the type of musicians these guys are is evident. Their not self-obsessed rockstars, they're just nice guys doing an amazing job of making music what it should be, something for everyone.



Setlist

The Downfall Of Us All
2nd Sucks
Right Back At It Again
City Of Ocala
I'm Made Of Wax Larry, What Are You Made Of?
Monument
Violence (Enough Is Enough)
Best Of Me
Mr Highway's Thinking About The End
Homesick
Dead And Buried
End Of Me
Have Faith In Me
Sometimes You're The Hammer, Sometimes You're The Nail
All I Want

If It Means Alot To You
All Signs Point To Lauderdale
The Plot To Bomb The Panhandle