REVIEW: PANIC AT THE DISCO AT BRISTOL O2 ACADEMY (31/01/12)
Bristol’s sold out show tonight welcoming the international emo-pop stars Panic! At The Disco, has turned the O2 Academy into a tropical haven. The room is already bustling with an electric energy buzzing through the crowd even before the American foursome steam in, as they do they are met with an ear piercing array of screaming fans, whom have clearly been building themselves up for this moment. Taking centre stage, only to saunter with his back to the crowd Brendon Urie, the face of Panic! builds up the anticipation before booming in with ‘Ready to Go [Get Me Out Of My Mind]’ Panic’s most recent release.
Bursting into action, arms flinging around him, multiple hand gestures and head swinging, this upbeat pop track full of energy has the crowd jumping in unison from the get go, replicating the vigorous air punching. Brendon takes a slight breather in the form of keys playing before rolling into ‘The Ballad of Mona Lisa’, though this track only came out roughly a year to date it’s received as though it is a trademark of Panic’s fame.
Taking it back to their renowned first album ‘A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out’ ‘Camisado’ ignites the room with the audience overpowering the lead, roaring word for word at the top of their lungs. With the heavily age based lyrics about taking ‘the fight from the kid’ and getting ‘teen hearts beating’ I envisaged the young crowd that appear tonight however there comes a large contrast with a percent of the audience that don’t fit the bill being vastly older, I came to the conclusion that maybe this was due to age restrictions for the youngest spectators and this percentage was due accompanying parents, however it appeared this generation also happened to know songs lyric by lyric, and continued to match the pace and vigour in the room, an unexpected reaction as even I now in my 20’s felt abit beyond the dream teen lyrics.
Brendon stops between songs to share some life lessons, “life is just too short” “If you truly, truly want the rainbow you’ll have to put up with the fucking rain”. But then again it’s a little easier to deal with the rain when your leading the life he is. Bono like statements aside he’s a great frontman and he his fronting a great band, though they have been increasingly quiet since their debut with shows like tonight you get the feeling their never going to go away.
Words and photo: Laura Palmer
