Images: Mayday Parade, Real Friends, This Wild Life, As It Is November 15, 2015 at Hard Rock Live

I entered the Hard Rock Live just as the UK pop punk band As It Is took the stage. The room was filled to about two thirds capacity, which is not only a feat itself for an opening band, but it was the night of The Las Vegas Marathon, causing a traffic headache for all involved. I mean, I walked through a wedding outside of the Monte Carlo to make it in time.

The band had a very interactive crowd, with fans jumping around to tunes like single “Speak Soft,” taking a moment to belt out the lyrics, “Why should I stick around when all I do is let you down?” with the band. The crowd was quick to answer any and all questions asked by frontman Patty Walters, which is a brave move since you’re never guaranteed a reaction.

The crowd was younger than I have been seeing lately. As I scanned the room, I saw that a majority of hands were adorned with X’s, with many young ladies lining the barricade. It’s always nice to see girls getting involved in the scene, and I hope that expands. The back consisted of the older guys waiting for Mayday Parade to take the stage and generally ignoring the openers, a staple at any MP show.

Next up was This Wild Life, a name that had been buzzing throughout the room before their set. The “acoustic pop-punk duo,” as they‘re referred to on their wiki page, are a band I’ve heard of due to their previous tour alongside Turnover, Turnstile and New Found Glory. So it made what came next a little surprising.

The heavily tattooed men played an all-acoustic set of easy listening pop music, which was far different than the NFG style pop punk I was expecting. “Better With You” was one of my favorites, which the lead Kevin Jordan described as a song about long distance relationships. It was clearly the crowd’s favorite as well as the entire front row sang along. They had everyone pull out their phones, stating that they were about to cover “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe” by Kendrick Lamar, which admittedly piqued my interest. Instead what we heard was an acoustic cover of “Sleepwalking” by British band Bring Me The Horizon. This is a band that knows their crowd, and everyone ate it up.

As I made my way back up to the front to shoot Real Friends, a girl got pulled from the crowd for passing out, ala a Michael Jackson show from the 80s. I expected that kind of fatigue and dehydration later in the night just from fans singing and dancing, but it still felt so early for this to happen – the band hadn’t even come out on stage!

A common theme throughout Real Friends’ set is the band’s own excitement. Not only to be playing for the room, but how stoked they were to not be outside in the heat, as they have only played Las Vegas during the 108 degree days of Warped Tour. The barricade tonight wasn’t your usual barricade, but more of a gate, and it was clearly failing as soon as the set began. It was unable to hold back all of the fans singing along, and the crowd surfers.

Between songs like “Anchor Down” and “Spread Me All Over Illinois” lead singer Dan Lambton importantly spoke out about homophobia, transphobia, misogyny and sexism in the music scene. The crowd was young and impressionable, and it’s important to have figures like this in their lives speak up about issues, even if their parents can’t/won’t do it. Many showed their solidarity in the cheers they gave back. Lambton explained that shows need to be a safe escape for everyone, and reminded everyone to keep each other safe as they jumped into “I’ve Given Up On You.” They closed with “Summer,” and made me concerned on two separate occasions that the floor would cave in from the crowd jumping so hard. They were cheered off stage, signaling that they need to come back to town as soon as possible.

Mayday Parade slowly took stage in the dark lit room, as fans welcomed them warmly in through their cheers.  They opened with “One Of Them Will Destroy The Other,” a track off of their October release Black Lines. It was a choice that was clearly welcomed as the entire room filled in song. Vocalist Derek Sanders pulled out a guitar to play with the full band for “Letting Go,” a sight I’ve never previously seen at a Mayday Parade show

Possibly inspired by the heartfelt talk from Real Friends, Derek made it a point to speak out about being yourself, using him wearing a shirt of Batman and Robin making out publicly as an example. It wasn’t as eloquent as Lambton’s speech, but it still interested the fans, which is what matters the most.

They played a lively set of old and new, such as “Black Cat,” “Jamie All Over” and “Let’s Be Honest.” One thing that I have enjoyed over the years of going to their shows is they consistently sound phenomenal, and always look so happy to be playing, even all these years later. As expected, they pulled out the piano for Derek to solo on “Stay.” The men that previously seemed to be there in support of their girlfriends suddenly broke into the biggest fans, belting out the lyrics “Please stay, please stay” with reckless abandon, in between their bouts of crowd surfing.

The room erupted during “Miserable At Best” warmly reminding me of the first time I saw them, five years to the day (before) the show. Many couples got into it, even as far as slow dancing. They threw it back and played the first song on their first EP from ten years ago titled “Just Say You’re Not Into It” before closing with “Jersey.”

-Hunter Wallace | https://www.flickr.com/photos/hunter_wallace/

Mayday Parade setlist:

One of Them Will Destroy the Other
Jamie All Over
When You See My Friends
Keep in Mind, Transmogrification Is a New Technology
Ghosts
Letting Go
I Swear This Time I Mean It
Terrible Things
Oh Well, Oh Well
Just Out of Reach
I’d Hate to Be You When People Find Out What This Song Is About
Black Cat
Let’s Be Honest
Stay
Miserable at Best
Just Say You’re Not Into It
Jersey

Real Friends setlist:

Cover You Up
Lost Boy
Sixteen
Old Book
Loose Ends
Anchor Down
I Don’t Love You Anymore
Spread Me All Over Illinois
Late Nights in My Car
I’ve Given Up on You
Summer