Wonder Ballroom hosts iconic pop-punk band

Mayday Parade lead singer Derek Sanders performs on stage at the Wonder Ballroom. Photo provided by Nitrah Neon Photography.

Taking a moment to reflect back on my junior high and high school interests, last December I purchased a ticket to go see one of my favorite bands, Mayday Parade. The pop punk band has been together since 2005 and came out with their first album 10 years ago, “A Lesson in Romantics.”

Their current tour is in dedication to that album, and I was honestly swept away into the music  on Tuesday  when I finally heard this band live at Portland’s own Wonder Ballroom.

First, I had to wait through the opening acts, both up-and-coming bands.

The first band to preform was Milestones. Formed in the U.K. in 2014, their “emotional and melodic sound” attracted Fearless Records to sign them last year, the same label that signed Mayday Parade. Their sound seemed to connect with the genre of Mayday Parade with its emphasis on harmonizing, high-pitched emo-rock vocals. The tone of lead singer Matt Clarke’s voice faintly reminded me of Joe Jonas in a way. Milestones still has… miles to go to make it big in the pop-punk scene, but I think they have potential in the area of teen angst and heartbreak.

The other act was the band Knuckle Puck, a Chicago band that seemed to be fairly well-known. However, I wasn’t really into their style. They seemed a bit harsher in vocals and instrumentals compared to the other groups. A handful of people had already seen the band before, and the crowd was into their harsher sound; there were probably about 20 crowd-surfing incidents during the set. But I felt like their songs all sounded the same and they took forever to do their sound check, and judging by the staff, they seemed to be running past their time frame to perform.

After the long wait through the opening acts, the moment for the headline band had finally come, after yet another long intermission for a sound check. It seemed odd while waiting, because at the back of the stage the smoke machines seemed to be malfunctioning, like they couldn’t turn off. When the lights went down, it looked stark white and all I could see was the bright lights and the silhouettes of the anxious fans in front of me. But I’m so thankful the light staging was used dynamically for this show, because it really heightened the atmosphere in the venue.

I was surprised how much Mayday Parade performed. They played the 12-track anniversary album in its entirety, and in addition played several other popular songs including “Terrible Things,” “When You See My Friends” and “Kids in Love.”  Lead singer Derek Sanders even threw in an acoustic cover of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” two-thirds of the way through the show. That performance alone really helped me appreciate his raw vocal talent.

Honestly, my favorite part of the show was hearing the acoustic songs. You really could hear and feel the fans’ love of the band throughout the room. Another enjoyable part of hearing Mayday Parade live was hearing the stunning guitar solos by Alex Garcia, one of Mayday’s lead guitarists.

Thankfully after a minute of cheering of pleas for more, they came out for one last song, “Oh Well, Oh Well.” As a longtime listener of any artist, it can be bittersweet going to an anniversary tour, because generally that means the band will soon be dissolving.

In this case, though, Sanders firmly emphasized that Mayday Parade would continue to create and perform music for years to come. I think the impulsive decision to buy the $25 ticket was well worth it and I look forward to hearing more from this iconic, melodic pop-punk band.

Advocate Staff