LIVE REVIEW: You Me At Six @ Cardiff International Arena, Cardiff

Rock fans from Wales’ capital city are in for a treat tonight, as the city’s arena venue hosts a stacked lineup of pop-punk-flavoured acts spanning several generations; spear-headed by YOU ME AT SIX. As such, there is a healthy diversity among the crowd, with all looking to make the most of this stacked Friday night lineup.

First up is self-proclaimed ‘dirtbag boyband’ BEARS IN TREES, who some music fans might remember from a joyful Forest Stage set at last year’s 2000trees Festival. The South London indie outfit don’t quite live up to their ‘dirtbag’ persona, instead coming across as a delightful and immensely talented group of young musicians with some serious song-writing chops. The set’s highlight is sunny bop Heaven Sent Is A Coffee Cup with its bouncy guitars, uplifting lyrics, and radio-baiting multi-layered chorus, serving as an endearing introduction to the Croydon quartet. Keep your eyes on these lads.

Rating: 8/10

Next up is Tempe, Arizona’s own THE MAINE. Taking the stage to NEIL DIAMOND’s Sweet Caroline for some reason, the US five-piece brings the showmanship, decked out in matching all-white outfits. They proceed to hammer out some up-tempo pop-rock songs, starting with the aptly named Sticky. This catchy bop remains lodged in the brain until the group gets the crowd moving with the recent TAKING BACK SUNDAY/CHARLOTTE SANDS collaboration, Loved You A Little.

Never one of the standout bands of scene explosion of the early 2000s, the quintet nonetheless deliver their middling power-pop fare with aplomb. If anything, the scene stalwarts suffer by being sandwiched between two acts that provide more contemporary and vibrant sounds.

Rating: 6/10

On a bill with some venerable but aging pop-rockers, WATERPARKS add some youthful energy to today’s proceedings. Indeed the three-piece’s snot-nosed tales of sex, drugs, and messy breakups feel very much like the Gen-Z equivalent of what YOU ME AT SIX were doing back in 2007, before they graduated from racy pop-punk to life-affirming anthems.

This is not a criticism of the Texan group, as a matter of fact, their fine-tuned hooks paired with their electric stage presence are exactly what is needed to raise the energy levels for the headliners. Sonically, WATERPARKS are a grab-bag of influences – EDM, R&B, and even hip-hop elements are in the mix, all tied up in a sweet pop-punk wrapper.

Rather than feeling disparate, WATERPARKS glue these building blocks together with top-tier pop song-writing that’s brought to life by frontman Awsten Knight’s sugar-rush stage presence. The only misstep is an acoustic interlude that kills the momentum and loses some casual listeners in the process. Still, the band has won over plenty of new fans tonight.

Rating: 8/10

As the clock ticks past 9pm, tonight’s headliners take to the stage in a flurry of neon lights, kickstarting their set with the opener from their seventh album, Deep Cuts. Truth Decay, which dropped that very same day is something of a return to the band’s pop-punk roots, with some expansive sounds from their last couple of outings mixed in for good measure. It’s a decent mix, and this opener represents the best of it.

The next couple of tracks, from Cavalier Youth and VI respectively, unfortunately, lack this same stomping energy. A throwback from their sophomore effort Hold Me Down wakes the crowd up, but bizarrely, one of the slower, acoustic guitar-driven tracks is chosen, which continues to sap the momentum. The impressive light show backing up the band certainly helps the show continue rocking though.

Things pick up again for another new song, heartLESS, which sizzles with nervous energy as the band introduces the track to live audiences for the first time and sets the stage for the highlight of the evening – Bite My Tongue, the Oli Sykes featuring banger from 2011’s Sinners Never Sleep. The furious anthem incites a mosh pit for the first time, with frontman Josh Franceschi really giving it some welly. He even mimics Oli’s trademark low screams on the breakdown, bellowing “FUCK YOU” along with some 4,000-plus fans.

No Future? Yeah Right sees YOU ME AT SIX put in another spirited performance, but as the setlist once again trends towards older material, the band feels increasingly out of their depth. The set’s absolute low point comes with God Bless The 90s Kids, a glorious misstep from Truth Decay that sees the Surrey quintet at their cringiest. When it comes to nostalgia-baiting pop-rock tracks, BOWLING FOR SOUP’s 1985 stands far above this poor effort. 

Thankfully, the band knows how to do an encore. Introducing the third act of the show as “nothing but bangers”. Josh stays true to his word, as they blast through four fan favourites, starting with the synth-led SUCKAPUNCH. From here the band transition into arguably their finest pop song, Underdog, which sees the crown bouncing in unison. As always, Reckless slays and, as confetti falls, the band interpolates When You Were Young into the song’s ending. This tactful acknowledgement that the song’s melody is borrowed from THE KILLERS megahit feels like a suitably cheeky way to bring proceedings to a close. As attendees file out to the strains of Beautiful Way, the mood is generally elated.

Rating: 7/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Cardiff from Beth Nicholls here: 

Like YOU ME AT SIX on Facebook.