Concert review: You Me At Six’s Truth Decay tour at Newcastle City Hall

Nostalgia is an odd concept. For every positive memory and musical relic of the past there are people wanting to leave it at its peak while others will want to reuse and recycle trends, sounds and ideas in a new context.

In this sense, walking to Newcastle's City Hall from Haymarket Metro on Tuesday evening felt like an amalgamation of the two with rock fans excited to see a band who are able to bridge the gap between the past and present with ease.

You Me At Six may not have sold out the venue towards the northern end of Northumberland Street in Newcastle’s city centre but those who made the trip on a cold Tuesday night made up for any available space towards the back of the venue.

In an unusual move, doors for the night opened at 6pm to make time for three support acts with many people unable to catch opening act Bears In Trees while the following two slots offered a perfect encapsulation of the crowd and sense of the past and present combining.

The Maine took the second slot and their 45 minute slot offered a clear indication of the traditional mix of pop punk and emo, part of the scene You me At Six thrived on during their rise while final support Waterparks offered a glimpse into the present with recorded backing tracks including trap-eque beats and vocals helping the three piece showcase their sound.

The 90 minute headline slot soon rolled around with a similar mix of old and new from the five piece, who marked their sixth show of the tour with a perfect intertwining of classic fan favourites and new tracks from their tenth album, Truth Decay, which will be released on Friday, February 10.

While these new tracks are maybe not at the level of Bite My Tongue or Stay With Me, arena-ready songs which were yelled back at the stage by a crowd built from many many developmental years listening to the band's stunning first trio of albums, but front man Josh Franceschi was able to sell unheard tracks to the crowd through his skill in conducting a room.

Franceschi may not be considered to be one of the great lead singers in the UK, but his performance in Newcastle showed why he should be in that conversation. Little moments of contact with each fan in the waves of crowd surfers quickly shifted into forcing open pits for a fantastically brutal three track run of songs in front of a well crafted stage setup which saw drummer Dan Flint and bassist Matt Barnes elevated behind both guitarists and Franceschi.

Tender moments could be found among the madness with Franceschi telling the crowd “you have no idea how many times you’ve saved my life” during a stunning acoustic rendition of No One Does It Better and claiming “Newcastle was the first city to open their doors to You Me At Six” before leaving ahead of a stunning encore consisting of old Take On The World, Underdog, Reckless and Beautiful Way mixed with 2021’s Suckapunch. A perfect mix of old and new.