The recently announced partnership between Hilton Worldwide and Live Nation kicked off last night, with frenetic groovers Paramore taking the makeshift inaugural stage at the ever so architecturally dazzling Conrad Hotel New York.
Despite the pitiless Arctic chill and not-usually-rocker-friendly Battery Park location, the culture cognoscenti actually turned out in formidable numbers. And apparently at least half of them knew the words to every Paramore song, making flame-haired singer Hayley Williams’ job seem really rather easy. Still, the hyper-animated waif (who is an action figure just waiting to happen) bounced across the stage like a Pomeranian on 14 cans of Red Bull, as her band tore through a decade’s worth of exuberant alterna-pop crowd pleasers…sort of a next gen version of No Doubt, if you will.
Particularly impressive was the exceedingly artful flipping and flopping of drummer Aaron Gillespie’s hair, as he bashed away at the skins with unflagging brio.
Bookended by buzzy before and after parties, the only thing that seemed to be missing was a good gate crashing episode. But, hey, there’s always next time…