Hey Violet @ O2 Academy Islington

Hello everyone,
here's a little update on what's been happening in my world:
uni, work, placement, uni, uni, uni, work, placement. It is a never ending cycle that pretty much aborts my socialising with friends, but December 2nd was a fantastic exception.
The emo's (me, Emmy, Amy and Emma) had planned to have a cute AF Christmas meet up at Winter Wonderland in London, followed by Pizza Hut Buffet, Oxford Street shopping/photoshoot and Hey Violet. Unfortunately 3/4 of the squad ended up stuck in traffic for over six hours, YES THAT'S SIX HOURS, during a journey that should have taken two hours. It's safe to say we've reserved Winter Wonderland and Pizza Hut Buffet for next December, but one thing did happen and that was seeing Hey Violet at the O2 Academy in Islington.
For those of you who don't know I will fill you in. Hey Violet are the first band 5SOS signed onto their label Hi or Hey Records and the band, set up with sisters Rena and Nia (bae) Lovelis, Miranda Miller and Casey 'groovy moves' Moreta, supported 5SOS across their recent ROWYSO tour.
Hey (bae) Violet make feisty, firey music. During 5SOS' tour I heard people refer to them as a mini No Doubt, a fresh female fronted rock band who make the catchiest songs.
As well as being super talented, the band are also cute and friendly as fuck. During ROWYSO they did acoustic hangouts and invited everyone who wanted to to have a little meet and greet. Since their supporting slot on tour I have been obsessed with their music.
When we walked into the venue we felt a little bit out of place as near enough everyone in our vision seemed to be 30 ish years old. We concluded that a large majority of them were parents, watching the band as their children partied in the crowd, but a few of them seemed to be their for their own will, and some even knew the words to their songs. I had anticipated that 99% of the crowd would be 5SOS fans, which I'm sure they were, but I didn't see one 5SOS shirt in sight. A huge portion of the fans around me were proudly displaying Hey Violet merch, myself included.
The pre show playlist was a collection of songs I had forgotten I loved, such as Still Into You by Paramore. The lights dimmed a little, a curtain swung open and Bae Violet came on stage, ready to put on a truly explosive performance.
Their opening track was This Is Why, a crowd favourite which was met with a huge sing along. The band decided to bring out a bassist for the tour, Edison Lo, who was buzzing with energy, encouraging the crowd to participate throughout most of the set. This also left time for Rena to show off her stage presence, and we all commented how much she has improved since ROWYSO, (which we didn't know was possible) as she climbed beside Nia playing drums, dropped to her knees in the centre of the stage and showed off her strong vocals, which were of some kind of sorcery level during their cover of Radioactive, they were that good!
They also performed their high energy cover of Blank Space by Taylor Swift, which is one of my favourite songs they perform. They also had a little acoustic moment, in which Nia got a little emo saying that she was happy to be their with her three best friends, before stumbling over a guitar case! They then threw Sparks Fly into the setlist for which I am all about passionate punching my hand in the air and dramatically dancing to!
There were a few new songs added to the mix which showed off what is to come from the band. Mr and Mrs Smith was high energy and has made me incredibly excited for their next EP, or album, whichever they decide to throw at me!
The closing song was Love Me Like You Should, which is such one of my favourite songs to see them perform live, as the guitar solos are out of this world, many WOAH OH WOAH OOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHS and a chance to move your body any which way it wants to let out some anger over someone who does not love you like they should.
The show was short, which was to be expected due to their limited number of known tracks, but it was a sweet reminder of how talented Hey Violet are and how excited I am to see them live again and again and again.
I didn't take any photos of the show, only a few clips of guitar solos and chorus' but I will leave this photo of me, Emma, Emmy, Amy and Millie reunited with the band for a total of 8 seconds in the best photo of all time!

Writing this has been tough as my hands hurt so much from clapping, I don't think I've ever been so passionate at a show!
Thanks for reading,
until next time,
Aimee :) x