Author’s note (Kim): This entry is meant to be a review-journal about the concert. The author feels that if this entry was to be made into one whole entry, it would be a very long one. Therefore, this entry shall be split into three parts. This is the second of three.

Thank you!

Taylor York showing his guitar chops.

The ParaCrew finally set up the equipment for Paramore! The crowd was going wild! The backdrop was set, and the instruments were being fine-tuned.

And after a quarter of an hour, at about 8:30PM, the main event finally began!

The crowd was really going wild then, as Taylor plugged into his amp and started playing a short riff, which sounded very much like Ignorance. Nearly everyone in the crowd whipped out their cameras and started to take in pictures and videos.

After a while, the rest of the band took their places, with Hayley receiving the loudest screams from the audience, quite predictably. They then proceeded to play the intro directly leading into Ignorance. The crowd was really wild already with all the jumping and screaming along to the song’s lyrics!

After the high energy song, Zac started playing a really funky beat leading to crushcrushcrush. The crowd was really pumped now! Hayley shouted “KAMUSTA KAYO?! It’s nice to meet you Manila, thank you!” (Jio’s Note: This translates to How are you? It’s nice to meet you Manila, thank you!) to our deafening cheers. The crowd was so hyper during the song! Everyone was singing along and jumping around!

That’s What You Get and Looking Up followed in the same fashion. The band looked like they were having a blast! I was enjoying too much during this time that I didn’t notice I got robbed of my cellphone. (R.I.P cellphone)

After Looking Up, Hayley told us that “this is a mighty big show for our first time here in Manila!” She told us too how cool it was to get this kind of reception for their first time here. (Yeah!)

She then asked us a question, and requested us to answer it honestly. She asked us to raise our hand if we owned their latest album, brand new eyes. She was surprised to see most people raise theirs. Then she asked those people who didn’t own it to raise their hands. A number of people did. Laughter echoed throughout the concert grounds.

They dedicated the next song to those people who didn’t have their latest album. It is the first song on brand new eyes – Careful. IT WAS SO INTENSE. It was here that all of us stood witness to Zac’s insane drumming skills. If the drumming sounded awesome in the album, more so live. He was in a league of his own! Not to mention Hayley’s powerful vocals, Jeremy’s sick bass lines, and the rocking guitars.

Let The Flames Begin followed. I loved their live version of it. I mean, who can go wrong with them playing “The Final Riot!” version with the tremendously passionate outro?! I was left open-mouthed at Hayley’s voice then and there. Of course, I’ve seen videos off YouTube, but this is the real deal! Hearing her sing live was PHENOMENAL.

People trying their best to capture a wonderful performance by Paramore.

Hayley then talked about their first album, All We Know Is Falling, which was released five years ago in 2005. They can’t believe that they’ve never stopped here in Manila… until that night. They wanted to play a song from that album. But first thing’s first, Hayley got her yellow tambourine. Everyone cheered as she got it, and then suddenly we heard a person near the front repeatedly screaming, “I love you Hayley!!!” Hayley turned around and pointed to that person and replied, “Love you!” I bet that person whom she said that just died of sheer happiness.

She told us that the next song is about “love… gone terribly wrong.” The familiar tune of Never Let This Go played! Honestly, this was the first Paramore song I really fell in love with. It’s just amazing. Even though this song is from their debut album, most people knew this and started singing along. I’m pretty sure the band was really happy.

The next song they played was a song they just released a music video for, The Only Exception. Hayley, in behalf of the band, thanks their friend, Brandon Chesbro, for directing it. Hayley described it as the first love song they have ever written; she felt that there was a lot of love going around that night, so it’s only fitting that they play that song. They dedicated this song to some kids from the Love146 Round Home. Hayley said that they are honored that these children attended their concert. By the way, Love146 is a charity against child trafficking and exploitation. Paramore fervently support this charity, and it was shown as every instrument the band members played had a Love146 sticker on them.

During the song, nearly everyone brought out their cameras and cellphones and started to wave them high in the air and sang along in unison. Hayley even remarked halfway through the song that we sounded good! Hahaha!

This ends the second part of the three-part series describing the recent concert held in Manila. The author really is an avid Paramore fan. Stay tuned for the conclusion of this series.