All Time Low in Pittsburgh – June 7, 2023

Touring in support of their ninth studio album, All Time Low made a stop to the Stage AE in Pittsburgh for a night of pop-punk and emo, with support from Mayday Parade and Games We Play.

Games We Play

First up was Games We Play, a pop-punk band who were just as good at banter with the crowd as playing music. They opened with a song called “Get A Job,” and the crowd immediately latched on to the catchy and sometimes funny lyrics. Lead vocalist Emmyn was constantly engaged with the crowd, getting them involved singing lyrics and jumping up and down during songs. During a cover of The Killer’s song “Mr. Brightside,” he tossed the microphone into the crowd and a fan sang the rest of the song from the audience. Later in the show he invited the crowd to go check out their merch after their set, joking that his brother was working the stand and is desperate to have his first kiss. The energetic band finished their set with their song, “I Hope You’re Happy,” a classic angsty punk song that left the crowd prepared for the night ahead of them.

Mayday Parade

Up next was Mayday Parade, a staple of the punk scene since they formed in Tallahassee, Florida nearly 20 years ago. Unsurprisingly, a large portion of the crowd was wearing Mayday Parade merch and gave a big cheer as they opened the show. They took the stage to “Three Cheers for Five Years,” before transitioning into “Oh Well, Oh Well,” two older songs. Midway through their set they performed a cover of Gotye’s song, “Somebody That I Used To Know,” which was popularized through the Punk Goes Pop album releases in the early 2010s. The majority of their set were songs from the first few albums, including “Miserable at Best,” and “Jersey.” Their final song of the set was their pop-punk anthem, “Jamie All Over,” which almost the entire crowd knew and shouted the lyrics back at the band on stage. The crowd gave a big applause after their set, which felt more like a headlining show rather than an opening set.

All Time Low

Touring in support of their latest album, Tell Me I’m Alive, their first album in almost three years, All Time Low is another band that has become synonymous with pop-punk over the last several years. They opened with the album’s title track, with lead vocalist Alex Gaskarth taking the stage solo to perform the first half of the song on piano, before the rest of the band joined him. They transitioned into a song off their third album, “Break Your Little Heart,” getting the older crowd jamming and singing along.

Their set consisted of a wide variety of songs off their different albums, spanning more than 15 years of music and all of their nine albums minus their first, The Party Scene. Some highlights included “Somewhere in Neverland,” a song that they have played only rarely since about 2017, “Something’s Gotta Give,” and “Do You Want me (Dead?)” Later in the set Alex played “Therapy,” alone on stage and the crowd took a pause at their moshing and dancing to appreciate the slower guitar and vocals. The band also started to play a cover of Smash Mouth’s “All Star,” before ending it early much to the disappointment of the crowd. Their final two songs of the set were “Time-Bomb,” which got the crowd head-banging to the heavy guitar lines, and finished it off with “Sleepwalking,” which featured a cool combination of guitar riffs and synth lines and left the crowd anxiously awaiting them to return to stage for an encore.

Their three-song encore was hit-after-hit, beginning first with “Weightless,” a song that had the crowd belting out the lyrics. They followed that up with “Monsters,” a song that was released featuring Blackbear, fitting more with the pop side of the pop-punk. They finished off their show with their most popular song and one of the most well-known songs in the genre, “Dear Maria, Count Me In.” Numerous fans got onto friends’ shoulders and crowd surfed towards the stage throughout the song, making it a perfect conclusion to the set. All Time Low’s tour resumes in the beginning of September with shows in Boston, NYC, New Jersey, and Philadelphia. Do not miss your chance to see this legendary band live.