Paramore soars with Twilight

I thought Fall Out Boy Live in Phoenix was good but I have now changed my mind. It’s all because of The Final Riot! The latest by Paramore is one of the best live releases I’ve heard and I must add seen in recent times. The musical competence, Hayley Williams’ vocals, the great set of songs and the electricity between the band and the audience are truly awesome. Paramore has now become the rock band we should wish to see in concert.

The Final Riot! is but the latest in what was truly a very good year for Paramore. Released last December, the two-disc set capped what was a series of great things that happened to this band one after the other in only a little over 12 months. Paramore was named last year’s Band of the Year by two publications. The band also got nominated for a Grammy and won one at the MTV Video Music Awards. The Final Riot! went platinum with a million copies sold. Now with The Final Riot! Paramore is out to show that the group did deserve being Band of the Year for 2008, then maybe also for 2009.

The Final Riot! is a two-disc set made up of a CD and DVD filmed and recorded live at Congress Theater, Chicago. Included are the best Paramore recordings, all the anthems and emo a teen-ager could wish for. Born for This, That’s What You Get, Here We Go Again, Fences, Crush Crush Crush, Let The Flames Begin, When It Rains, My Heart, Decoy, Pressure, For a Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic, We are Broken, Emergency, then Hallelujah, a Leonard Cohen classic that the members did quite well and Misery Business.

Along with the live concert audio comes a DVD made up of concert shots, interviews, behind the scenes footage and intimate shots of the boys and the girl while on tour. Here are all the things fans would love to know about Paramore and all the things the members are good at. Hayley’s vocals are fantastic and the rest of the band, Josh Farro on guitar, Zac Farro on drums, Jeremy Davis on bass and Taylor York on guitar were so together throughout you cannot help but marvel at the way they interact with each other.

The filmed coverage is one of the best I’ve seen of a band on tour. These guys are basking in the glow of fame. You could almost see them glowing. They deserve it. Paramore is a band that knows what it does best and did everything extremely well in this live concert.

The Twilight soundtrack

Incidentally, a big part of Paramore’s successful 2008 was Twilight, Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack which has two cuts by the group and is a big hit. The musical companion to one of last year’s biggest box-office hits, it’s the first soundtrack album to debut in No. 1 in the US Billboard charts. It also hit No. 1 in local stores upon release late in 2008 and stayed up throughout the holidays to sell over 10,000 copies.

Lead cut is Paramore’s Decode which is also No. 1 in several radio stations. Now getting heavy airplay is I Caught Myself, the other track by Paramore which is poised to be the CD’s next single. Other cuts are Supermassive Black Hole by Muse; Full Moon by The Black Ghosts; Leave Out All the Rest by Linkin Park; Spotlight by MuteMath; Go All The Way into the Twilight by Perry Farrell; Tremble for My Beloved by Collective Soul; Eyes on Fire by Blue Foundation; Flightless Bird, American Mouth by Iron & Wine; and Bella’s Lullaby by Carter Burwell.

Take note that the Twilight soundtrack includes Never Think, a song written and performed by Rob Pattinson, who as every Twilight fan certainly knows, is the gorgeous guy who plays Edward. The CD also has a booklet that folds into an Edward and Bella poster and collectible trading cards with images of Edward or Bella or James or of Edward and Bella together.

Also available is Twilight, Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack - The Score. No Paramore here but it has all those beautiful melodies you hear in the background while watching the movie composed by Burwell, who also did the film score.