By David Menconi
Staff writer
RALEIGH -- There's a lot more to fronting a band than just standing at a microphone and singing. You're also serving as master of ceremonies, simultaneously channeling and embodying a crowd's feelings and desires as an idealized peer -- and crowds are multi-cell beasts that can reward you, or turn on you if you don't tend to those desires with just the right vibe.
Hayley Williams, flaming-haird frontwoman of the Tennessee rock band Paramore, understands this better than most. Williams is a very conversational singer, with a style that sounds like animated talking sped up and set to dramatic emo-pop arrangements. No wonder kids relate to and sing along with her tales of every-teen angst.
Onstage during a steamy Friday night at the Downtown Raleigh Amphitheater, Williams was in constant, kinetic motion. And she seemed to get the fact that she was just one voice speaking for many.
Introducing an unplugged segment (which the band played from a couch onstage), Williams said they were going to turn the volume down to acoustic levels, "the better to hear you sing." They they offered up "Where the Lines Overlap": "I've got a feeling if I sang this loud enough/You would sing it back to me."
That's exactly what happened. Every song turned into a shout-along, with thousands of young voices singing loudly enough that it was often difficult to hear Williams. Rather than try to fight that, Williams encouraged it, holding out the microphone to encourage the vocalizing. Pete Seeger's got nothing on her.
Friday's show was opening night of the Honda Civic Tour, and Paramore was the last of four bands to play. Among the opening acts, Canadian folk-rockers Tegan and Sara made the strongest impression. They're identical twin sisters who started out as a winsome folk duo, but they've added electric instruments and impressive pop sense to their repertoire in recent years. They were terrific, especially on the driving "Hell."
Paramore's headline set began with the band playing from behind a curtain, which dropped as they started into the staccato riffing of "Misery Business." Paramore's oldest member is 25, but they're technically sharp and savvy beyond their years. Friday's show featured first-rate dynamics throughout an array of catchy pop tunes. It's not reinventing the wheel, but they're giving it a mighty good spin.
As Williams concluded on "Looking Up," "We're just getting started."
david.menconi@newsobserver.com or blogs.newsobserver.com/beat or 919-829-4759
