Their UK tour didn’t get off to a fine start, with the first show being called off midway through due to a fan falling from the venue balcony, but that hasn’t wavered A Day To Remember’s performances thus far. Having dominated huge venues across the country over the past week, a few moaned there hadn’t been a London date added to the tour. Little did we know that within days we’d be heading to the two hundred capacity venue in the depths of Camden, the first venue they ever played in the UK, the Barfly.
A Day To Remember have become renowned recently for their big productions, Jeremy’s hamster ball, explosions and confetti are all part of the show – but the venue tonight simply wasn’t big enough, so their performance was stripped right back to it’s core. Barely able to make it onto the stage as they squeeze their way through the crowds, as soon as the instantly recognisable intro of ‘The Downfall of Us All’ chimed in, the room became a mass pit of sweat and chaos.
Tonight is all about the band connecting with their fans, who have all won their right to be here. Some uploaded videos, some ran around the streets of London finding the members of the band – however they got their hands on tickets, everyone in this tiny room are dedicated to the band and that makes it just that little more special. There wasn’t a moment where a body wasn’t flying across the crowd, circle pits were formed at every given moment and fans clambered on stage to join their heroes in chanting back every word. As Jeremy stated before storming into ‘All I Want’, this show is about getting back to their roots and staying true to the people that have supported them from day one, making the words “All I want is a place to call my own, to mend the hearts of everyone that feels alone” all that more significant.
As they powered through a set just over an hour in length, squeezing in as many tracks from their back catalogue, including old favourites ‘Monument’ and ‘Plot to Bomb the Panhandle’, by the time it came to a close there was not a dry body in the house. The crowd put in just as much energy as the band and every track received the loudest sing-a-longs possible from such a small number of people.
It’s rare these days to see bands of A Day To Remember’s size taking the time to play one-off intimate shows such as this, but it’s humbling to see that they still care about their fans as much as the fans care about their music. As they head back out on the road, continuing to play venues more than ten times the size of the Barfly, we feel honoured to have been a part of this experience and look forward to seeing what tricks A Day To Remember have got up their sleeves for next time they visit.
TAMSYN WILCE