Driving down a long, winding road surrounded by trees, the first thought to pop into your head would probably be “where exactly is this Sunset Cove Amphitheater?”
Past a golf course with a range, a school, and a dog park, a clearing with a shelter and lines of port-a-potties will appear right on the edge of a body of water. A scenic view, not something you’d expect for a concert venue.
Beyond the iron gates, the sun could be seen beginning to set, giving the impression that it had been nothing but a clear day in the city of Boca Raton.
That was not the case a few hours earlier, when the gates first opened and a torrential downpour threatened the rock show that was about to take place.
By the time the supporting acts of the evening State Champs, Tonight Alive, and Issues had taken the stage, South Florida had decided to give the rain a break and allow a clear evening sky for All Time Low to give their fans a part of their (future) hearts.
After a long set change, which required the crew to moving all show equipment far from the edge of the stage in the event Florida weather decided to strike again, the stage lights turned dark signaling that the Baltimore-based band were ready to kick off the show.
The set opened up with “Satellite,” the first track off of their recently released album, Future Hearts. After the mellow song played out, they quickly launched into “The Irony of Chocking on a Lifesaver” off of 2013’s Don’t Panic followed by “In Stereo” and “Stella” both from 2011’s Nothing Personal.
After “Stella,” frontman Alex Gaskarth thanked the fans on behalf of the band for sticking around after the horrible rain they endured. He admitted that for a while, he thought the vast majority of the audience would have left due to the terrible weather.
Apparently, he underestimated the dedication of their “Hustlers.”
They continued with tracks like “Six Feet Under the Stars” which ended up with a large potion of the audience participating in a circle pit followed by “Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don’t),” and “Runaways,” another new track from Future Hearts.
As Gaskarth and guitarist Jack Barakat spoke to the audience, they noticed there was a guy holding a sign, asking the band to help him ask a girl out to prom; you know, a promposal. Instead, Gaskarth jokingly asked the girl to go with him, but sadly, the girl not only turned the singer down, but also the guy.
Bummer.
Barakat quickly tried to turn the embarrassing moment into one that was funny by telling the audience about this story someone had told him earlier in the day. The story went that if you took off all your clothes and stood naked outside, the rain could not touch you.
For anyone familiar with Barakat and Gaskarth, both act like permanent teenage boys.
As he finished the story, the audience quickly erupted in a “get naked” chant. Nothing came from that, so they continued onto the next song on the list, “Weightless.”
As “Weightless” ended, thing went quiet for a bit.
Gaskarth emerged from the back with an acoustic guitar to play the acoustic song “Therapy” also from Nothing Personal. Once the slow song was over, the other three band members (Barakat, bassist Zack Merrick, and drummer Rian Dawson) returned and played “Missing You,” another song from Future Hearts which the band has repeatedly stated is their favorite on the record.
They quickly continued down the list with “Reckless and the Brave” and “Love Like War.” “Love Like War” originally features vocals from Pierce the Veil’s Vic Fuentes, but this version was given a special twist when Tonight Alive frontwoman, Jenna McDougall, came on stage to take over Fuentes’ parts.
As the song ended Gaskarth hugged McDougall and the band began “Backseat Serenade” followed by “Time-Bomb,” but this version of the Dirty Work song was different.
Before beginning, the band decided they wanted to bring some fans on stage to assist with the song. When they announced their plan, the crowd went crazy with everyone from the back to the front, trying to get the band members’, and their security’s, attention.
Somehow, they managed to have too many females on the stage (who were too busy taking selfies/videos) and Barakat started to complain there weren’t “enough penises” on stage. Eventually, they got the right balance and launched into the song.
Maybe the microphones weren’t plugged in or the fans couldn’t remember all the words, but the only vocals heard were Gaskarth’s.
With a quick shout out to some members of hometown band New Found Glory who were in the crowd (All Time Low’s name comes from a NFG song), they started on their last official song of the evening, “Something’s Gotta Give.”
Once the song wrapped, the band headed backstage and soon after, the “ONE MORE SONG” chants began. But the band didn’t give them just one more song; they gave them a total of four.
The encore began with “Kids in the Dark,” a fitting title considering everyone in the crowd at that moment were “kids in the dark.” They followed the new song up with “Jasey Rae,” an oldie, but a goodie they always dedicate to their longtime fans.
A surprise to the setlist came when they played Blink-182’s “All the Small Things.” At first, it seemed like they would just play the intro, but then they launched into the full song. As they wrapped, Barakat joked that it was a song they “just wrote” and had no idea how the audience knew the words.
But as everyone laughed at the joke, it soon became apparent the night was wrapping up. There was only one song left on the encore set list. The song that launched them from MySpace sweethearts to the band whose new album landed at the number two spot on the Billboard 200; “Dear Maria, Count Me In.”
Earlier in the week, the RIAA had revealed that the 2007 song had reached platinum status, quite a feat for a bunch of goofy guys from Maryland.
As the song wrapped, confetti was blasted into the air signaling the end of the show. As confetti rained down on the fans, as opposed to the rain from a couple of hours earlier, Barakat, who was rocking a hot pink frilly bra during the song, could be seen through the screen of smoke and paper dancing along to Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk” as the audience members began to shuffle their way out the gates. Soon, the house lights came on, signaling the end of the South Florida stop of the “Future Hearts Tour.”
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