Panic! At The Disco Live Review, Manchester Apollo

Theatrical and thrilling, Panic! At The Disco return for a second leg of their Vice’s and Virtues tour. They played across the UK in 2011 to promote the album, they played Reading and Leeds Festival in the Summer and now they’re back, drawing in huge crowds and causing a stir.

This time round they played Manchester Apollo, a much larger venue than Manchester Academy where they usually play. My personal favourite venue, especially for atmosphere it has never let me down and I’m almost certain they’ve never had a bad show there. Walking into the venue, it was obvious from the start that this show would be no exception to Apollo’s usual stellar shows.

Attracting crowds old and young, I was quite surprised at the vast age range at the show. Though dominated by teenage girls as expected, there were quite a few adults there who sang along to every word. This was my first time seeing Panic! At The Disco after listening to them since I myself was a young, teenage girl and I was excited, filled with high expectations and did not want to leave disappointed.

Well I can surely tell you, they did not disappoint and it was well worth the seven-year wait. Though Panic! are known for their theatrical performances, being quite different from any other band you’ll ever see live, they seemed to have toned that down somewhat since the older performances. This was not necessarily a bad thing, Panic! At The Disco played louder and harder and it was more of a loud rock show than a theatrical performance. This may be due to the band now being older and more mature and bringing that aspect of their lives into their music or it may be due to the new line up of band members after two of the original lineup being replaced but what ever the reason behind it is, it sure was exciting!

They’ve ditched the eyeliner and long hair for a more mature and smart look, boasting shirts, waistcoats and perfectly styled hair. The new music takes a different direction without loosing the original attraction of the first album and they put on a perfect performance leaving the audience dancing from start to finish and singing every last word with them.

The audience loved it, the band looked to be enjoying themselves and I left wishing that the night would never end. They’ve matured and taken many risks in their career but if one thing is for certain it is that Panic! At The Disco know how to put on a great live show and I can’t wait to see what they have for us next.