A Lesson in Stage Presence: Mayday Parade @ Islington Academy 8.10.10

Derek Sanders & Alex Garcia of Mayday Parade

'Two entries in four days?!', I hear you say. It must be some kind of record. Having started my Newspaper Journalism MA at City University three weeks ago, I've constantly had drilled into me the importance of an active online presence, so here I am, attempting to write something interesting at least once a week and maybe more when times call for it.

While my classmates discuss some of their impressive blogs about current affairs, politics, and even sport (a timeless and honourable pastime), I find myself keeping rather schtum about the fact I like to write about the kind of music more generally favoured by those at least 5 years my junior, for fear of ridicule. However, this is what I know about, and what I enjoy, so better to write something well informed and fun than to drag out some unqualified and half-hearted comment about the inner-workings of North Korea's corrupt pastry industry in the hope that it might result in a smidgen of kudos, when the likelihood is it would result in equal ridicule anyway.

To the point of this entry, anyway. I popped to Islington o2 Academy on Friday evening (8.10.10) to see some of the aforementioned music being performed, as power-popsters The Maine and Mayday Parade played to the packed venue.

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Arriving only slightly fashionably late, I am shocked to see The Maine already on stage, and from what I understand, a couple of songs into their set. I had expected there to be at least one smaller support band, but it seems that in the rush to get the show done by 10pm, so the kiddies will be in bed on time and the adults can party properly in the venue afterwards, there will be no messing around with such formalities. I feel a bit sorry for the Arizona fivesome, having to play to a crowd who've had no warming up, especially as I thought these boys were quite big players in the scene these days.

Not looking as slick and poster-boy as I'd expected them to, they play a musically flawless set of sugary-powerpop numbers, and though not the most animated of crowds, there is a large pocket toward the front who are evidently loving it. Though the slick sound quality in the venue works well with the summery power-chord choruses, I can't help but think the band look a little out of their depth on the stage, remaining largely static throughout, with the exception of charismatic frontman John O'Callaghan, who tries as best he can to compensate for the fact his band mates' feet are all well and truly glued to the floor. Older favourites 'The Way We Talk' and 'Girls Do What They Want' are the biggest hits with the crowd, cuing big singalongs, and even the invitation of a hysterical female fan to sing on stage, in a horribly cringeworthy episode. O'Callaghan's use of an acoustic guitar during a couple of the songs doesn't really work for me, as these aren't acoustic numbers, but rather seem to be a bit of a desperate attempt to scream "I'M NOT JUST A SINGER, I CAN PLAY INSTRUMENTS TOO, LOOK!!", and this doesn't help the visual dynamic one bit. This is only slightly redeemed with his amusing short skit of Outkast's 'Roses' midway through the set.

Overall, The Maine's set is enjoyable, with the strength lying in tight performance and well-engineered sound, but it's all rather boring to watch, especially at the back with all the other oldies (one excellent advantage to going to a show with such a young audience is the distinct lack of any queue at the bar). This evaluation is before I even begin to discuss the band's lyrics ("...she makes me feel like shit/ but I can't get over it..." -REALLY?), which I won't harp on about here. Everything's rather nice, but they won't be changing the world with their live shows anytime soon. As for the phrase 'pop-punk', judging by The Maine, it seems the two components have been moulded into a whole new creature, in which the latter part of its parenthood has been lost, rarely showing any of its traits in its new hybrid child. (6/10)

Tonight's headliners, Mayday Parade, have been a band I've followed since I first heard their debut full-length A Lesson in Romantics in late 2007, and who have become quite the guilty pleasure as I've grown older. It is clear as the band hit the stage who everyone is really here to see, and despite a relatively enthusiastic response to The Maine, the crowd go completely wild as the Florida boys break into set-opener 'Walk on Water or Drown'. Though The Maine's sound was smooth, Mayday blow them out of the water with a face-smackingly big sound. Perhaps The Maine's tightness prevails, but what Mayday lack in polished playing, they make up with stage presence, as every member rocks out ten times harder than their opening counterparts. It's no surprise that older tracks are the bigger hits tonight, as Mayday's latest effort Anywhere But Here received mixed responses on its release, and old favourites 'Jersey' and 'Black Cat' get the biggest crowd reactions of the night, causing many-a-scuffed pair of skinny jeans as the floor opens up into circle pits. Even 2006's EP Tales Told By Dead Friends gets its fair share of stage time, as the band emphatically blast out 'Your Song' and 'Three Cheers for Five Years' like they wrote them yesterday.

After a short break, the ferrying of a keyboard onto the stage signals the seemingly obligatory moment in any pop-punk set these days, as singer Derek Sanders and drummer/ backing vocalist Jake Bundrick return to the stage to perform ballad 'Miserable at Best'. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of slower, more understated artists, but nowadays it seems that every pop-punk/powerpop band feels it necessary to shove in a soppy ballad on every CD, regardless of whether it fits the feel of the rest of the record. Not that tonight's crowd seem to share my resentment, as every member sings every word - sounding more like a convent school choir than the audience of a rock show - to the overly sentimental, vomit-inducing, piano-led cheesefest about long-distance love.

However, the band soon return to amps-to-eleven form and blast out some more old favourites. After the departure of distinctively-voiced singer/guitarist Jason Lancaster soon after the recording of A Lesson one might imagine the band to struggle pulling off some of these songs live, but to give them their credit, Bundrick and bassist Jeremy Lenzo do a great job of filling his shoes and putting their heart and soul into the job.

Finishing with A Lesson's opener, and arguably biggest hit, 'Jamie All Over', the crowd confirm once again who they're here to see tonight, lapping up every word spat and every guitar swing in front of them. The 'punk' part of pop-punk may have disappeared a long time ago, but the boys in Mayday could give their juniors in The Maine a lesson or two in how to put the 'power' back into powerpop, and how to give such a long-derided genre a bit more soul and backbone. (9/10)