Laura Smith

With three years since the release of their first album, ‘A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out’, it was only to be expected Panic! At The Disco would keep their fans waiting for their performance at Leeds Uni too.

The stage was first filled with a mass of lights to welcome Black Gold, another Nevada Rock band with a sense of stereotypical American high school culture. After a failed attempt to A: receive any recognition for who they were (the question ‘Do you know who we’re listening to?’ circling the room) and B: sustain the attention of the many 14 year olds who were simply there for the main event, the lead vocalist of Panic, Brendon entered the stage to help them out by singing a verse of a song for them. Whether this was genuine help or just the fact he couldn’t resist not being the centre of attention I’m not sure.

After a painful two and a half hours involving many chants of PAN-IC, PAN-IC in an attempt to lure the band onstage and another even more shameful stereotypical band later, Panic casually walked onstage, facing some boos from angry and impatient fans. However, these were in the minority of hyped cheers and screams to ‘But It’s Better If You Do’, the first song performed from their debut album.

Casually ignoring the less forgiving members of their audience, Brendon and Ryan, the main vocalists, went on to discuss their drinking habits of root beer and soda, which frankly came across as a pointless attempt to divert encouragement away from under-age drinking which had clearly been going on prior to the gig anyway, judging by the behaviour of many.

Panic have obviously come a long way since their first steps on the road to fame, I’m only worried that they have turned into the type of band to let the effects of fame go to their heads too quickly, and feel they don’t owe anything to their fans due to this by conforming to the rock band stereotype that others have fallen into. Following this they went on to state how small the room was, some credit here has to be paid, anyone thinking a university refectory is big enough for a popular rock band is sadly mistaken. Amid the continuous fight for room and oxygen Panic went on to say how they felt like a college band playing for their school, which was followed up by an unmistakable cheer of support at the suggestion they should take part in a battle-of-the-bands competition.

Somewhere during the first half of the performance, Panic discreetly managed to gain the support of every girl in the room, obviously seen by the response to the question ‘who’s single or looking tonight?’ to which I found even myself shouting back. As far as build up’s to songs go, this was undoubtedly an 8 or 9, matching the richter scale of an earthquake in the vibrations that could be felt in the introduction to ‘Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have With Her Clothes On’, suitably dedicated to the fans.  

Ending the first set with welcomed news of a new album and performed tracks such as ‘Nine In The Afternoon’, saw a new twist on Panic’s style of song writing. With the same quirky titles and lyrics, the overall sound has taken an unmistakable Greenday influence, assisting to blend them in more deeply to the growing blur of American rock, sadly leaving behind the unique characteristics the debut album consisted of.

With an atmosphere that could have filled a large stadium as easily as it did the refectory, Panic left the stage with an audience desperate for more that they had no choice but to return for a phenomenal encore. Their return was by no means lengthy but quality easily overtook quantity, with an acoustic twist on the most anticipated performance of the night, ‘I Write Sins Not Tragedies’, the track that propelled the band to fame in 2006. With such hype formerly surrounding the single, it went unsaid that a different take on it was expected, and fans were not left disappointed. Taking a seat for the song, the band took a relaxed approach to delivering the high standards that were expected of them, and didn’t fail to do so.

The buzz of an atmosphere is often the oxygen a band survives on, and if this gig was anything to go on, Panic! At The Disco will be living a long life yet.

Rating Forthcoming

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