For over a decade, All Time Low fans in Malaysia have been waiting for the band to perform live in the country once again. This wish was finally fulfilled on the evening of 28th April 2024, when the rock band hit the stage at Zepp Kuala Lumpur for their 2024 “All Time Low Forever” Asia tour.
Their stop in Malaysia kicked off the start of the long-awaited tour, which will continue to Indonesia on 30th April and Philippines, Singapore and Japan next month. At 8.30pm on Sunday evening, lead vocalist Alex Gaskarth opened the show with a short rendition of “Tell Me I’m Alive”. Guitarist Jack Barakat, bassist/backing vocalist Zack Merrick, and drummer Rian Dawson then joined in to rock the cheering crowd with “Some Kind of Disaster”.
Fans begun singing along. Most of them having followed the band since their debut in 2003, they already knew the lyrics by heart and was singing out loud throughout the whole concert. Whenever Alex occasionally stopped singing just to hear the crowd’s sing-along, joy was apparent on his face upon hearing how enthusiastic the fans were.
The band performed “Weightless” and “Lost In Stereo” back to back, followed by “Six Feet Under the Stars” and “Poppin’ Champagne”. “Do you guys know Jasey Rae?” Alex asked before grinning wide, hearing the resounding “Yes!” that echoed through the hall. Of course, when the song played, fans immediately started singing with him.
During the intermission, the band expressed their gratitude at finally being back in Malaysia after 13 long years. The band’s first show in the country was back in 2011, at the Rockaway Festival where they performed alongside fellow American rock bands The Used and Story of the Year.
They also shared an interesting titbit: They were not playing their own instruments at the “Forever” show. “These are not our guitars,” Jack said, holding up the electric blue one clutched in his hand. “But it’s so beautiful, I really like it.”
As it turned out, their gear did not arrive from the US and their crew had to rent everything for the concert on a day’s notice. Singing their crew’s praises, Jack also later slipped in that their “lighting guy Carlos” was with them on the tour despite having just gotten married they day before the KL concert. “He’s honeymooning with us,” Alex added jokingly.
“I can’t tell if I’m doing a good job or a bad job,” Alex said before starting on their next song. “But here’s the deal, you guys just act like it’s a good job the whole time, okay?” The singer didn’t have anything to worry about, as he did do a good job singing live, his voice a true testament to the two decades of experience he’s accumulated since debuting as a teen.
Having toured a lot, he also knows how rowdy things can get, especially in the standing zones. He reminded everyone to check in on the people around them and make sure no one was getting hurt, to help pull up anyone who’d fallen down.
“Drink some water,” he advised. But since water bottles were not allowed inside the venue, he took some of the water prepared for the band onstage and gave them away to the crowd instead. The show continued. After playing “Vegas”, the band segued into “Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don’t)”, “Do You Want Me (Dead)”, and “Backseat Serenade”.
The band played more than 20 songs that evening. As Jack said, it was their first time playing the set. He added that it had everything from their old to new albums, as it was a celebration of their 20 years in the music industry.
“See you again in 13 years!” Jack shouted excitedly, while fans exasperatedly shouted back, “No!” A truce was made, the band will see their Malaysian fans in 13 months instead. Fingers crossed this will pan out.
“I don’t even want to say how old we’ll be in 13 years…” Realisation suddenly hit Jack, a funny moment to witness. The lanky guitarist will be turning 36 this June, while Zack has only recently turned the same age this month. Meanwhile, both Alex and Rian are turning 37 in December.
The youngest on the stage that night was no doubt Dan Swank, the 29-year-old who has been the band’s touring member since 2020, providing support in terms of rhythm guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals at the show.
“You’re doing good, keep doing what you’re doing but louder!” Alex encouraged the crowd before the band continued on to play “Something’s Gotta Give”, “Kids in the Dark”, and “Missing You”. Before starting on “Therapy”, Alex mentioned that this song was very highly requested by fans, judging by the comments asking them to perform it. So, the band decided to fulfil their fans’ wish.
Next, came “Sleepwalking”, “PMA” (Alex shared this was currently his favourite piece to perform), “Fake as Hell” (“which we wrote with the legend, Avril Lavigne!” Alex enthused), and “Dirty Laundry”. “This is our last song,” he said with a grin before performing “Afterglow”. “Okay, it’s not, but just pretend that it is!”
It’s this fun way of engaging with the fans that makes their concert worth attending, not to mention getting to hear Alex belt his vocals live. While he and Jack do most of the talking, it’s evident that the quieter Zack and Rian have plenty of fun too jamming out with their fans.
The set continued with “Monsters”, a short version of “Calm Down”, and a mash-up of “Modern Love” and “Stella”. Sadly, it was time for the final song. “It’s a cover,” Jack joked. Alex rolled with it, loving the crowd’s dismayed reaction at hearing the final song wasn’t going to be theirs. The cheeky pair knew what the fans really wanted – with a laugh, Alex relented and jokingly said, “It’s a cover of a band called All Time Low.”
The music kicked in and the crowd roared, they were getting their favourite song: “Dear Maria, Count Me In”. Often cited as the band’s biggest hit, it was no wonder that the whole hall happily sang along at the top of their lungs.
All good things must come to an end, however. Just a little after 10pm, the band said their goodbyes and generously “distributed” guitar picks to the lucky fans standing closest to the stage. One final goodbye and the stage went dark. Suffice to say, the All Time Low concert in KL ended on an “all-time high note”.
Florey contributed to this article.
