Mayday Parade, Jack’s Mannequin, The Home Team @ Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide 17/9/2025
Three cheers for twenty years!
It was quite the celebration for Florida’s Mayday Parade who are celebrating twenty years as a band and whilst it might have been a Wednesday night that did not put a dampener on the festivities one iota. It was a big crowd, near capacity, for this celebration which also included special guests Jack’s Mannequin from Orange County and Seattle’s The Home Team.
Right at the unfashionably early time slot of quarter to seven The Home Team made it pretty clear why they are a band to watch who came out of the blocks with much gusto. Their reputation for playing a killer live set was evident with a big crowd there early to watch them. Their mission statement of sorts “Real Rockers Only” was emblazoned on their banner behind them. Opening with Slow Bloom front man Brian Butcher posed the question “anyone like shaking their arses off to rock music” which was the perfect intro to Brag. I think they were surprised with how far their music has reached when Butcher asked another question “has anyone heard of our music?”
These guys are terrific and I’m a hundred percent certain they’ll be playing their own headline shows next time. The energy was high and the good time vibes were peaking which was just what we need as they ploughed through Worthy, Overtime and Hell. The ballad Walk This World With Me showed a subtle contrast and the ability to mix it up and everyone’s mobile phone lights were on adding to the spectacle. Watching All Your Friends Get Rich was about the first seven years of being in the band and maybe now the tables might be flipped. With Butcher stating don’t afraid to be loud it was Loud which was the final song of their set. The Home Team were that good, I bought both albums after their set.
It’s hard to believe that it has been some thirteen years since Jack’s Mannequin have played in Australia going all the way back to the days of Soundwave. Fronted by Andrew McMahon on piano, Jack’s Mannequin brought a different energy to keep things interesting. It was like an emo version of Ben Folds Five with the same level of energy. A cancer survivor having come through the other side suffering writer’s block made for quite a compelling story which was admired by this Adelaide crowd. Songs of the ilk in Kill The Messenger, Crashing and The Resolution shows how powerful lyrically their music is add to that crowd favourite Swim. You could see what this song meant to one fan who was perched up on the shoulders of her partner singing her heart out. The rest of the set was quality finishing on Bloodshot, La La Lie and the very popular Dark Blue.
With the calibre of supports that would have kept Mayday Parade on their toes and this was the complete performance playing a career retrospective covering their twenty year career. The archival interview footage was really cool showing how far they have come as a result of a merger between two local Tallahassee bands, Kid Named Chicago and Defining Moment. Ever since then their career trajectory has continued upwards. Bigger show, bigger production, visuals and all the other trimmings. It was like a heroes welcome as the band took the stage for By The Way. If you’re an avid follower of the band you would have been rubbing your hands together with delight as this set list unfolded which was loaded with plenty of fan favourites over the journey. I reckon every song was an anthem and the crowd singing the songs back was often louder than the band.
Three Cheers For Five Years, tick, Jersey, tick, I’d Hate To Be You, tick… it was one banger after another as front man Derek Sanders said “we’re working our way through the back catalogue”. “Sad slow emo song” Miserable At Best featured a stunning audience sing-a-long. Sanders pointed out that Adelaide was quite the highlight having spent a couple of nights in town having dinner, going bowling and cruising about town. The visuals were great, lyrics highlighting certain words on screen, skits and old archival interviews tied everything together making it the compete package and a memento of sorts of this celebration.
One of Them Will Destroy the Other featured a cameo of The Home Team singer Brian Butcher then knocking over Never Sure, Piece Of Your Heart, One For The Rocks and More Like A Crash. After Pretty Good To Feel Something Sanders said “we made it though twenty years of Mayday Parade” taking a moment of reflection of playing in Adelaide, supporting Paramore in 2007, playing Soundwave and being stoked how the top three cities in their Spotify stats are Australian cities. Finishing in epic fashion on One Man Drinking Games and Jamie All Over there a parting message of kindness and being good to each other before the mad scramble out the venue. Look forwarding to the next twenty years. Three cheers for the next twenty years!
Live Review By Rob Lyon