16th of February

Melkweg, Amsterdam

By: Jorien Cornelissen

 On the 16th of February I went to the
band All Time Low in the ‘Melkweg’ in
Amsterdam. It’s in the centre of the
city. It was hard to get there with the
car but we made it.
The pop punk band All Time Low
formed in Maryland in 2003. Lead
vocalist Alex Gaskarth and guitarist
Jack Barakat put the group together
and recruited drummer Rian Dawson
and bassist Zack Merrick. The band's
name came from a line in the song
"Head On Collision" by the band New
Found Glory. Early on All Time Low
mostly performed covers of songs by
bands like Green Day, blink-182, and
New Found Glory.

All Time Low's first recording contract

came with indie label Emerald Moon in 2004. Their first release was an EP
titled The Three Words to Remember in Dealing with the End. A full-length
album The Party Scene followed in 2005. It was produced by Paul Leavitt.

Just months before band members graduated from high school, All Time
Low signed to national indie label
Hopeless Records in 2006. Their first
release was an EP titled Put Up or
Shut Up which included mostly re-
recorded versions of songs from
their Emerald Moon album. With the
release of the album So Wrong, It's
Right in 2007 and extensive touring,
All Time Low began rising in the
ranks of national pop punk bands.
The group received strong support
from MTV and appeared on Jimmy
Kimmel Live in the spring of 2008.

• 2004 - The Three Words to

Remember in Dealing with the End
EP
• 2005 - The Party Scene Album
• 2006 - Put Up or Shut Up EP
• 2007 - So Wrong, It's Right Album
• 2009 - Nothing Personal Album
• 2011 – Dirty Work Album
 All Time Low have made their name
largely through extensive touring and
their fun, energetic performance style.
In 2007 All Time Low joined the annual
Vans Warped Tour. In 2008 they
toured with bands such as Cobra
Starship and Mayday Parade. All Time
Low joined the Vans Warped Tour
again in 2008. The group joined Fall
Out Boy as an opening act on the 2009
The Believers Never Die Part Deux
tour. All Time Low appeared in the
Vans Warped Tour again in the
summer of 2009. In 2011 they toured
again through the whole world with
their album Nothing Personal .

All Time Low first broke into national

charts when the EP Put Up or Shut Up
broke into the Indie top 20 in 2006. The following album So Wrong, It's
Right broke into the top 100 of the overall album chart in 2007. It
included "Dear Maria, Count Me In," the band's first song to reach the pop
singles chart. The band has released two singles from the upcoming album
Nothing Personal. The second "Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)" is
All Time Low's first single to hit the Billboard Hot 100.

The concert took place in the biggest

hall of the Melkweg. Usually alternative
bands are performing in the Melkweg.
The band was set up like always, Jack
(guitarist) stood left, Alex (singer) in
the middle, Zack (bassist) at the right
and Rian (drummer) behind Alex on a
little stage. They wear their own
merchandise on stage. On the wall was
a big poster of All Time Low.
Nerissa and me were at the Melkweg at one o’clock and the doors opened
at 7 o’clock. In the mean time we sang some All Time Low songs with
other All Time Low fans and met Alex, Rian, Zack and Jack. We ran into
the hall and stood in the front row. The concert started with two support
acts, ‘Young Guns’ and ‘Crown Jewel Defense’. They started with metal
music so everyone was very exited when All Time Low came on stage.
They started with a real party song: Keep the Change, You Filthy Animal.
This was the setlist:
1. Keep The Change, You Filthy Animal
2. Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)
3. Jasey Rae
4. Poppin' Champagne
5. Six Feet Under The Stars
6. A Party Song (The Walk Of Shame)
7. Time Bomb
8. Lost In Stereo
9. Stella
10. Break Your Little Heart
11. Teenage Dream
(Katy Perry cover)
12. Therapy
13. Remembering Sunday
Encore:
14. Weightless
15. Dear Maria, Count Me In
So up and till Break Your Little Heart everyone got crazy. Teenage dream
was really great and Therapy and Remembering Sunday are two slow and
emotional songs, it was really sad to see Alex sing Remembering Sunday
because it was wrote because his brother committed suicide. The encore
songs were very great as well. In the song Therapy there’s a lot of
polyphony and at Teenage Dream they improvise some times. Time bomb
was played for the first time live and that was very great with a lot of
solo’s of Jack, Zack and Rian.

The concert was first a metal concert and when All Time Low came on
stage it was a pop-punk concert. It also was a kind of Indy. All of the
songs tell a story about a normal life where some strange things come to
light. The theme of the concert was nothing personal. It’s also the name
of their tour and album. All the songs were talking about someone, or
about yourself and feeling good about yourself. The function of the concert
was to amuse the fans. I definitely feel involved with the music because
they speak to the audience between the songs, and each song tells a part
of a person’s life.

My opinion:
I expected that when we came there, we had to wait in a line of miles
long. It wasn’t like that because there were only six people. I thought the
supports acts would suck but they were very cool though. I did expect
that All Time Low was very great but when they came on stage I totally
got overwhelmed. I got crazy. The moment they came on stage and we
saw them live was really great, I’ve been a fan for years and to see them
finally live was amazing.