You Me At Six
Alexandra Palace, London
05.04.2014

It’s said, some things can be taken away just as easy as they were gained. And for the critics and naysayers, the globally iconic band from “just down the road” as frontman Josh Franceschi describes it, headlined Wembley Arena whilst falling within an age bracket that suggests they’re simply still; youths, have clutched onto their success over night. But what these critics and naysayers fail to see is that for You Me At Six, this goes way beyond good luck. A success story requires many elements. There’s the history that stores the failures and disappointments, there’s also how those involved battled against their demons that anchored them downwards, then finally, there’s the result and how it impacts everyone and everything in its surroundings.

The You Me At Six past means that if anyone, fan or not, tries to remember a time they were a support band they would find themselves squinting, ‘umming’ and ‘ahing’. But in fact, rewind back to 2008 and they sat below the likes of Anti-Flag, Silverstein and Billy Talent on the annual British rock music festival; Give It A Name. Their following tour saw them play HMV stores and student union bars up and down the country. Their response: tour without taking a second to breathe. And though 2013 saw them call time out to pursue the States, they were still a rolling touring ball of stamina. The result of this hard work meant they were able to reinvent the mainstream charts and open the eyes of many who without You Me At Six, would probably have missed out on rock music. They stomped through contemporary hit radio stations along the way. In a time where rock might be seen as on the verge of extinction, they’ve pulled it out of the grave, given it CPR and put the life back into it.  

Fuelled with the success of Cavalier Youth, the spotlight is on their new material tonight.  Turning their back on playing the likes of Gossip and Save It For The Bedroom, it seems the charts aren’t the only thing being reinvented, rather Josh and co have thrown in the towel on their staple pop-punk tunes and hydrated the scene with opener Too Young To Feel This Old and Fresh Start Fever.       

Tonight is nothing less than a momentous occasion. But despite hitting it big time, the frontman shows a sense of grounding to the You Me At Six camp, “Max and Chris wouldn’t have played guitar if it wasn’t for Nirvana”, a heartfelt but sincere tribute to the passing of Kurt Cobain twenty years ago today. New tracks Forgive and Forget, Room To Breathe and new single Cold Night speak volumes alone, but adjacent to a sophisticated and simpler production with eerie video footage it doesn’t just work, it sets them worlds apart from past, present and future musicians.

Those who turn their noses up at the You Me At Six success story are missing the action they take: attention to detail. With an encore that encapsulates energy in Reckless, fierceness in Bite My Tongue and the authenticity and motivation that is found in Lived A Lie, any scepticism around whether they truly deserve their place on the podium are going to have to admit defeat. Having previously told Kerrang! “I still believe that You Me At Six will one day headline Reading & Leeds festival” Josh Franceschi shows tonight’s collection of 8,250 people they have it in them to take over a summer festival stage; now if they’re good enough for Alexandra Palace…Reading & Leeds will be a second nature to them.