All Time Low (w/ The Maine, Meet Me @ The Altar) @ O2 Apollo (Manchester, UK) on September 26, 2021 [Photos & Show Review]

Put on your best pop-punk scene gear and crank up the rawk, it’s time for a night of pop-punk madness with All Time Low bringing best friends The Maine and Meet Me @ The Alter as support. It’s going to be a wild one!

Opening up is Meet Me @ The Altar, a lot of people’s new favourite band, with their unstoppable girl power showing the music industry exactly what it needs – more female bands. Packed with attitude, the vibe given off by the band shows any female in the room who wants to get into music to just do it and fuck anyone who doubts you. Mashing up “The Sweetness,” “My Friend’s Over You,” “Break Stuff” and “My Worst Own Enemy,” is pure genius and, just one of the many reasons why this band was a winner with this crowd.

Next up is The Maine. With a lead singer in John O’Callaghan who is charismatic, witty and very humorous they have someone who entertains the crowd. Keeping the good vibes flowing, his bandmates are equally as entertaining dancing around the stage. It’s not all one-way entertainment though, as John’s constant chat to the crowd and tracks like new track “Sticky” and “Black Butterflies,” the band have the crowd fully up and dancing with their music feeling like you’ve just had the kind of giant, warm hug that we’re all needing in these current times.

Aside from the great music, the thing that makes nights like this what they are is the fans and tonight was no different. Growing up with bands like All Time Low, and other pop-punk legends, it’s great to see a new generation of fans coming along and keeping the pop-punk genre alive and bouncing back every time the genre gets written off.

Having released a new album Wake Up Sunshine last year, terrible timing as singer Alex Gaskarth pointed out, hearing those new tracks live in the UK for the first was time was something that was long overdue. Tracks like “Some Kind Of Disaster” and “Trouble Is” went over a storm while hearing “Lost In Stereo” live kickstarted everyone’s inner scene kid, myself included.

Encore time saw “Monsters,” another new track, given an airing with All Time Low ending the show on a positive note with a brilliant rendition of “Dear Maria Count Me In” and, as we filed out into the streets afterwards, given everything that has happened over the last eighteen months, tonight made us appreciate how truly lucky we are for moments like tonight.

Artwork for ‘Wake Up Sunshine’ by All Time Low