WOW!!!   Again WOW!!    I knew what I was getting into and
              I warned all participants about the Pit at the WAMU Theater!!!

 Cindra, Ray & I got there an hour and a half before the doors opened and there was already a line-up of two to three hundred fans. The next two young girls getting in line had to ask us "Is this the line for the Paramore concert?" :))  Then came the announcement before they opened the doors: "All men can go to a separate line for pat downs". I told Cindra I'd text her from inside and scrambled to the front!!  When they opened the doors, Ray's ticket wouldn't scan and the ticket taker said, "It must be because you're too old!", and the night began.......
  We were able to scoot right up to the center of the stage and then the rest of the fans started pouring in. I texted Cindra and told her we were in the front center stage. I was feeling bad that we were separated and was wondering how Cindra could get to the front, then walla she appeared from the front of the stage! She had managed to "excuse me" all the way to the front.

 Paramore
  I've been following Paramore for the past few years and first saw them with No Doubt and The Sounds last summer in the Mosh Pit at the Whiteriver Amphitheater. (my pictures & review here).

  In 2002 vocalist Hayley Williams met brothers Josh Farro (guitar and vocals) and Zac Farro (drums) plus bassist Jeremy Davis in Franklin, Tennessee. Friend and guitarist Taylor York joined the band for the RIOT! album.  Paramore's songs "Decode" and "I Caught Myself" were featured in the first Twilight movie and they also had a very successful FINAL RIOT! tour with a CD and DVD.  "Paramore unplugged" on MTV & Palladia is a real treat.  Their 3rd critically acclaimed album "Brand New Eyes" was released in 2009.  Hayley currently is featured with B.o.B on "Airplanes".   I love this band and am excited to see what the future sounds will bring!
http://www.paramore.net       http://twitter.com/yelyahwilliams

 The Pit

  After fun. the jockey for the front of the stage continued to increase. Many kids were pulled from the pit as many could not take the pressure anymore. It was well over a 100 degrees at this point and the sweat was pouring out.   Relient K has been around for a few years and have a repertoire of many good songs. They are billed as a Christian rock band and crossover into mainstream frequently. They play the Vans Warped Tour every couple of years. They sounded real good!! The Pit was the worst during this time and it was crushing to the point of not being able to breath at times. Crowd surfers were all abound... Cindra couldn't stand it and pulled herself out of the pit midway through Relient K and was able to meet up with Ed and his girls outside the crush of the pit.

   It took forever for Paramore to get on stage and it took everything I had to conserve energy. A few water bottles were passed around and one stopped at Ray soon after it was opened. I had my hand around it too and assumed Ray would just give it to me after he had his gulp..... and before I knew it he gave it to someone else!!  I was so anticipating a gulp of precious water and then there was none....  :))  Ray said he wasn't thinking about anything else but drinking some water and didn't even realize it was my hand on the bottle.     The crowd control guys up front were continuously pulling people out of the pit!   When Paramore started, the crowd backed off a bit but it was still boiling hot! The dancing increased and surfing continued!

   Everyone in Paramore genuinely was having fun on stage, Hayley mentioned several times this was the biggest best crowd of this tour ending in 3 more stops. Her voice was perfect from the soft acoustical numbers though the hard rock. She really has one of Rock'n Rolls great female voices and it gets better each year!! I knew the whole set list and each song had some sort of audience sing-a-long. Hayley really appreciated the Seattle fans singing! Josh's guitar and Zac's percussion made the case of them being some of the best in the business too!

   
  Song after hot hit song Paramore played each song faithfully, as Hayley energetically jumped all over the stage and with each note she gave more energy to the audience.

   The last three songs were killer: Brick by Boring Brick and the encore songs Decode & Misery Business!

At the end after a bit of audience bantering Taylor sat in Zac's drum set and then Zac grabbed Taylor's guitar and the two change instruments. They just goofed around...

I was feeling pretty dehydrated by the end of the set but held on to the end and am glad I did!

The whole experience was worth it! After exiting the pit we headed for the nearest water fountain. It was the best water in quite a while!  In the car I downed another couple waters!  After a nice top down ride home I removed all my clothes and set them in a pile for laundry...  the next day they were still all soaking wet!!  Good weight loss program!! 

There is such an incredible high being so close to the performers especially for a high energy concert as this one was!

Enjoy my pictures below as much as I did taking them!
   ~Art :))                                                   http://www.paramore.net