Paramore make up for lost time at Xcel

Hayley Williams of Paramore performing at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday, August 2, 2023. Tony Nelson for MPR

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August 03, 2023

In 2005, 16-year-old Hayley Williams swooped onto the Vans Warped tour scene with bright orange hair and soaring vocals, and stole the hearts of many. The loyalty of her longtime fans was palpable during Paramore’s show at Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul Wednesday night. There was mutual love and appreciation between the performers and fans, too.

The Tennessee-based band is touring on their sixth studio album, This is Why, released in February, almost six years since their synth-laden 2017 release, After Laughter. Self-proclaimed as genre-neutral, the Paramore of today has expanded from the broody pop-punk sound that initially launched them. Wednesday’s set played some of the favorites from all but one of their six studio albums from the past two decades.

The night’s two openers, the Linda Lindas and Foals, were perfect companions for Paramore’s shapeshifting sounds. Each band a similar way of playing with light and dark emotions in their music.

The Linda Lindas are a teenaged all-girl four-piece that rocketed into fame in 2021 for playing brilliant punk songs in a Los Angeles library. Much like Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams, who signed to Atlantic Records at age 14, the Linda Lindas have been on a whiplash ride since their debut. Growing up in the spotlight has robbed many of their youth, but guitarists Bela Salazar (18) and Lucia de la Garza (16), bassist Eloise Wong (15), and drummer Mila de la Garza (12), still present as playful kids on stage — even when their lyrical content seems wiser than their years. It’s a relief to see them being kids while expressing concern about the looming future and the ills of the world that they’re inheriting.

A four-piece rock band performing onstage — Los Angeles band The Linda Lindas performing at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday, August 2, 2023.
Tony Nelson for MPR

The band had as much energy as their last Twin Cities visit with Japanese Breakfast just over a year ago as they tore through a quick-but-enthusiastic 10-song set. The tunes ranged from true-punk rippers with a message, like “It’s Fine,” to fun and bouncy harmony-laden tracks like “Oh!” that had a Go-Go’s-style jangle. (They played an actual Go-Go’s cover of “Tonite” earlier in the set.) Their new song “Resolution/Revolution,” which just debuted on July 31, had thrumming bass and campy B-52’s-style spooky harmonies. And, of course, they closed out their set with the song that introduced them to the world, “Racist, Sexist, Boy.” It’s easy to see that these girls are full of potential, and we should all look forward to seeing what comes next.

Following the Linda Lindas was the British rock band, Foals. The four-piece band expanded to six on tour with two sets of double-stacked keyboards, a drum kit, electronic percussion, two guitarists, and a bassist. Grecian-born lead singer Yannis Philippakis captivated the crowd with vocals that bounced from screams to a whisper. At times, he sounded as upbeat and flirty as Rod Stewart, and at others, pleading in desperation like Robert Smith. Their first few songs felt like an aural expression of the best parts of summer and long days at the beach with choruses that came in like ocean waves with plucky guitars, disco-pulsing synths, and clap-along hooks. Heads bobbed to the modern yacht-rock sounds of the first three songs, “Wake Me Up,” “2001,” and the radio hit “My Number.” Then things quickly shifted into darker, more emotional territory. “Spanish Sahara” had snipped-off clips of wind blowing to the backing track, adding texture and a sense of loneliness. Songs like “Inhaler” and “What Went Down” traveled into a bit of prog-rock territory, with the crowd shining their cell phone lights and cheering for more at the end of each song.

A rock band performing onstage — Foals performing at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Wednesday, August 2, 2023.
Tony Nelson/Tony Nelson

By the time Foals wrapped, the crowd was abuzz. The last time Paramore came to town was July of 2018, and so much of the world has changed since then. Undoubtedly, many in the crowd sought a nostalgic reprieve that only a band they’ve loved since they were teenagers could provide. Paramore brought in a surprising amount of racial diversity for an indie pop-punk act, and femmes comprised most of the aging-Millennial crowd covered in tattoos. Williams smartly had her Good Dye Young hair dye company posted up inside and outside of the venue, offering up free hair dye. It was certainly a temptation for the many teens and adults sporting brightly colored hair, but signing up for the newsletter gave them something with which to pass the time before the headliner began.

Soon, a glowing orb appeared on the giant screens behind the stage. It began as a pinprick and slowly bloomed into a circular frame that flashed photos of the band, creating a rush of anticipation. The crowd screamed with glee when the first discordant notes of “You First” off of This is Why rang out. Williams appeared in a red-and-black-checkered matching short and suitcoat set with shin-high sheer socks and black oxfords. Her platinum hair glowed under the lights, and chunky gold glitter eyeshadow swiped across her sparkling eyes. Her greatest accessory was a mischievous, ear-to-ear smile that seldom left her face as she bounded across the stage all night.

She was joined onstage by founding drummer Zac Farro and guitarist Taylor York who joined the group early in 2007 before their triple-platinum Riot! was released. Also accompanying the three-piece was Joey Howard on bass, Joey Mullen on drums, and Logan MacKenzie and Brian Robert Jones on guitar, the latter with whom Williams performed a few synchronized steps and dance moves.

Williams was a vibrant ball of energy all night, seemingly unable to sit still. The pithy and introspective lyrics that had many fans latching onto them in the early years remained as they explored their funk roots and played with pop into This is Why. Feeding off the energy from the crowd, she marched along the stage dragging the mic stand with her during “The News,” let out a “woo” and the first of many high kicks during math-rocky “That’s What You Get” and seemed almost two steps away from a cartwheel during “Hard Times,” and the ska-tinged “Caught in the Middle.” She even threw in a few requisite “pick it ups,” hamming it up for the crowd. Pop-funk “Rose-Colored Boy” and “Ain’t It Fun” allowed her to show off her vocal chops and encouraged a choir-like singalong.

There were moments of stillness within the set, too. A block of honest and raw songs kicked off with the heavier “Decode.” “Last Hope’s” electric acoustic added a level of sentimentality that cooled down the frothing crowd as the room illuminated with the light from thousands of cell phones. Later, Williams, Farro, and York appeared on an elevated platform backlit by a desert-like scene and a blue sky behind them for “Liar” and Williams’ solo project song, “Crystal Clear.” More cell phones lit up the room while couples cuddled to “The Only Exception,” and the stage looking heavenly coated in cloudlike puffs of smoke.

Williams remained chatty all night long. She was often effusive, expressing her love and gratitude for allowing the band to live out their dreams since she was 14. She also used her platform to encourage attendees to vote and hold those in positions of power accountable before they launched into “Big Man, Little Dignity,” a song with biting lyrics hidden behind her taunting, cooing delivery. She egged on the crowd to have “cheer battles” between sections. During “Misery Business,” she brought a longtime fan onstage to sing the final chorus, and during the encore, she had fans lined up behind the stage for a much closer and personal view of the closers, “Still Into You” and “This is Why.”

Williams and Paramore have no sense of disingenuousness when they thank the crowd. They love their fans and gave them a show full of confetti cannons, showers of sparks, incredible lighting, moving overhead stage sets, and blasts of pyrotechnics that kept even the eldest of the Millenials awake, alert, and engaged. Wednesday night’s Paramore show proved that Williams and her crew refuse to quit showing up for their fans, and they, in turn, will always show up for them. It feels like a feat that a band like Paramore is still around, considering many MySpace-era emo bands that allowed them a foothold have long since died out. Paramore, though, remains honestly relevant and provides a dose of fun in a world that sorely needs it.

Setlists

Linda Lindas:

Talking to Myself

Why

Resolution/Revolution

Tonite (Go-Go’s Cover)

Fine

Nino

Growing Up

Too Many Things

Oh!

Racist, Sexist, Boy