Patent Pending @ The Academy 3 | Manchester

On Thursday, 20/04/2017, my boyfriend and I went to see Patent Pending at the Academy 3 in Manchester. I realise the majority of you will probably have no idea who this band are so I'll give some background. They are an American rock (I'd consider them more pop punk) band formed in Mount Sinai, New York in 2001.My boyfriend introduced them to me and we've been to see them each year ever since. Up to now I think I've seen them 5 times which is quite a lot! They're sort of "our band".

The Academy venues are part of the University of Manchester's student union, there are four in total and as of now I have been in three of them (I am yet to venture into the academy 2!) Normally Patent Pending are in the Club Academy which is in the basement but this time we were in the Academy 3 which was a little strange at first. I personally prefer the Club Academy as it has different zones whereas the Academy 3 is literally one big room. Also in this venue the merch was outside which was a little weird, I picked up a t-shirt like I always do, I'm a bit of a tour tee hoarder. We also picked up their new album 'Other People's Greatest Hits' which doesn't officially come out until next month! When we got inside Joe (vocalist) was stood near at the door signing tickets and taking selfies with fans which was really lovely, I haven't come across any other artists which do this!

First support was a band called Sweet Little Machine who are from Sheffield. I really quite enjoyed them! It's always nice when support acts interact with the crowd and aren't awkward. They dedicated one of their songs to someone in the crowd's boss which was quite funny. They were also giving away their newest ep for free at the merch stand and selling possibly the cheapest t-shirts I've seen at £5! The second support were Eternal Boy, previously The Spacepimps, an American Pop Punk band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. These guys were absolutely hilarious. They made a lot of inappropriate jokes which I wont repeat but trust me, they're funny. Most of their songs were inspired by the lead's ex-girlfriends, one of which they dedicated to a girl named Katie in the audience.

As always, the atmosphere at this Patent Pending gig was amazing, you really do feel like you're part of a little family when you're there. Their tours always have a 'theme' and this years theme was stranger things which I think is my favourite to date, they came on strange to the stranger things theme song which was was pretty cool. They gave their usual inspirational speech in the middle of the set which always manages to make me tear up a little bit! They also performed their cover of Spice Up Your Life for the first time on this tour which is great live! The infamous annual Crowd Swimming tournament was won again by Joe, next year he promised to convince Anthony to compete so I'm looking forward to that!

Due to popular demand they performed a medley of three old songs (Los Angeles / The Way You Make Me Shake / Cut Copy Paste) which was lovely. Followed by one of my personal favourite songs which my boyfriend and I sang along to quite badly, I was a little tipsy by this point! I think that this was possibly my favourite tour I've been too, I mean I enjoy them all but there was something special about this one for me.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this post! This band means an awful lot to me so I really enjoyed writing this, if you're remotely interested in pop punk music I would recommend you give them a listen, their gigs are by far the most fun! You can really tell that they enjoy performing and it's really nice to be part of it all!

-Chloe

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All Time Low @ The O2 Apollo | Manchester

On Thursday, 22/03/2017, my boyfriend and I attended our second concert of the year. We saw All Time Low at the O2 Apollo in Manchester. All Time Low were my favourite band a few years ago, as cliche as it sounds they were there for me when I was experiencing trouble with friends at age 14 so as you can probably appreciate I was pretty excited for this!

This was my first visit to this venue, I'm one step closer to being able to say I've visited every concert venue in Manchester! First impressions of the venue: It's massive! It is a Grade II listed building, with a capacity of 3,500. It's among the biggest venues in Manchester, second only to the Manchester Arena. I'll be honest, from the outside the venue does appear to be in need of some TLC but inside the character really does shine and you get a real theatre feel. The venue features a permanently seated balcony and a downstairs that can be either seated or standing. The seats in the venue were rather comfy, a step up from the moth ridden ones found in Arenas! As it is an O2 venue those of us who are on the O2 network can make use of the priority queue which grants you with priority access, although for us this wasn't very useful as we were seated anyway, still pretty cool though! Whilst queuing we were also given a free copy of this months 'Rock Sound' magazine which helped kill some time in the queue.  

First support was an American pop punk band named Waterparks. I really enjoyed their set and I even knew one of their songs already, which is rare for me because I'm quite out of touch with new music (something I'm trying to work on). The second support was an American punk rock band names SWMRS. (pronounced like swimmers) These are not really my style but they were still very much enjoyed by the crowd. They were very excitable and genuinely looked like they were having the time of their life. Although they did get a little political in the middle of their set which was a bit strange.

All Time Low were amazing. It was everything I hoped for and more, I sang my little heart out to every song that I loved when I was 14 years old. As you would expect with an All Time Low show there were a fair few 'dirty' jokes made, nothing too raunchy though. The atmosphere as a whole was beautiful, from the chemistry between the band and between fans. They played a great balance between old songs and new songs which I was very grateful for. Listening to Alex sing Therapy live was one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard, it gave me goosebumps! A final honorable mention must be given for the lighting team on this tour. The lights were INSANE and by far the best I've ever seen.

Overall I had the best time and I desperately wish I could go back and relive it all over again. Hopefully I will get to go to their next Manchester show!

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this post! These types of posts are my favourite to write so hopefully there will be more to come.

-Chloe

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