Words – Belinda Quick
Shot – @samuel_phillips_photography
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours” – Walden, Henry David Thoreau.
Maryland legends, ALL TIME LOW, are one of pop-punk’s most iconic and powerful outfits. A cover band created in 2003, by a high-school duo to honour the music of their idols, their infectious blend of melody and face paced, uplifting rhythms saw an immediate rise to fame in the mid-to-late naughties, an era synonymous with the popularity of the cross-genre scene.
Maintaining relevancy and reputation within the music industry, via forays into alternate and subgenres, ALL TIME LOW’s consistent commitment to craft and camaraderie, as well as prolific dedication to recording and touring have ensured an enduring legacy. One which has guaranteed Everybody’s (still) Talking about them, in the most exciting of ways.
Hot off the heels of last week’s GOOD THINGS east coast festivals, where the band shared the stage with their foremost inspiration and namesakes, NEW FOUND GLORY, ALL TIME LOW visited “a city dear to us” for a very special sideshow.
An ambient backing track broken by the band, ‘one of Brisbane’s hottest prospects’, FRIENDS OF FRIENDS immediately gets under Adeladians’ Skin. Tonight their third visit buoyed by a promise to return in January, ‘I think I’m in love’, as vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Brit, Barnaby Baker, calls back I Like Ya too; the latest EP’s secondary track a Synthetic Flower Chainsaw of light cutting through the as-yet darkened Hindley Street Music Hall gives way via an ethereal shot of Morphine.
Real Life, Right Now suspended, Baker’s Human error reveals “my mistake, we’ve got a few more left”; bassist and touring veteran, Jess Cameron tangos with the frontman, as the already dense crowd claps with the synchronicity of a metronome for the indie-punk’s own WOLFGANG Amadeaus Mozart opus.
A positive omen of things to come, ELO’s Mr Blue Sky soars, whilst smoke swirls. Illuminated by album artand dynamic visuals, ALL TIME LOW emerges with a SUCKERPUNCH. Zack Merrick & Rian Dawson on bass/keys and drumkit respectively, ‘by design turns a head’ upon the dias. Weightless an overall fan (and my bestie’s) favourite, carries the energy of Poppin’ Champagne at a Christmas celebration; hard earned after a year dealing with 2025’s unrelenting PMA.
In a year which proved the adage Damned if I Do, Damned if I Don’t, ‘with nights like these, who needs the days?’ Our premier venue’s trademark chandelier uncharacteristically unlit, we bask in the afterglow of the Dark Side of Your Room. Nonetheless, we ‘wouldn’t have it any other way’; talk of interstate rivalry a Time-bomb of ludicrous banter and audience laughter, bursts into Backseat Serenade between lovers, on and off the stage.
Frontman Alex Gaskarth attesting the band’s love of our humble city, where we ‘love Sleeping In’ and, occasionally, snoozing on big occasions, tonight’s not an example, and it’s nice to be acknowledged a Little Bit. Not a city like Melbourne or Sydney, to be sure, ‘singing along’ with dozens of double-decked audience members, Something’s Gotta Give. Adelaide, “you’re a great place!”
Acoustic aesthetics encourage Remembering Sunday, when many weary media got their first day of rest after a wild weekend of Good Things, the crowd is Lost In Stereo once again. Butterflies give way to bold actions and beautiful melodies of Gaskarth’s co-founder, Jack Barakat & Dan Swank, as he snaps out of Sleepwalking to replace Dawson’s wayward cymbal, which gets an amazing thrashing to demonstrate how much they love/Hate This Song.
Another enormous collaboration rounding out the Monsters of the main set, the overwhelming roar of the Thursday night crowd that spans and swarms across both levels chants for “one more song”, receiving two. The Weather a tempering gauge from the latest record, there is no doubt of the final, as yet unplayed, hit which will finish – Dear Maria, an All Time anthem.
Ecstatic scenes erupt as we ‘watch the way (they) take the stage by storm’, one last time this year begging ALL TIME LOW to ‘count me in’ tonight. This monumental moment, one of 2025’s greatest highs; it was a privilege that, for the ‘story at the bottom of a bottle; I’m the pen.’
Huge thanks to the crew at Hindley Street crew, Destroy All Lines, Good Things Festival and Dallas Does PR for having us!
