All Time Low’s revival of Remembering Sunday left everyone stunned

This must be old news by now. In fact, I know it is. However, I still think there needs to be more said about it. All Time Low revived “Remembering Sunday” with Halsey taking Juliet Simms’ part in the duet.

I had been planning to review the Summer Ever After Tour as per the fact it was my fifth time seeing this band and they always brought something new to the table. What I hadn’t known was I would be thrown a curveball and be given an iconic night that needs to go down in pop punk history (if that’s the type of thing that we even keep track of).

Since the concert was in New York City the day before the VMAs, I had a feeling going into it that something would happen. Manhattan was crawling with celebrities and music industry icons. It was only natural that they made this show special. It already was, though, since the venue they were performing at was new for the summer.

This rooftop show had a beautiful view of the Financial District in downtown Manhattan. Pier 17 has been the place for an abundance of shows this summer and seems to be the ideal place any musician would want to throw a summer jam session. The stage itself was situated in a way that set Manhattan and Brooklyn as backdrops with the Brooklyn Bridge running across the back. The pure beauty of the scenery certainly contributed to the success of the show and the that of the particular moment that left me stunned.

Alex Gaskarth pulled out his acoustic guitar, which is a sign for any major All Time Low fan that either “Missing You” or “Therapy” is bound to come on next. However, we all secretly hope he’ll change his mind and start strumming good ol’ “Remembering Sunday”, which hadn’t been on the set list in years. It seemed that the crowd hadn’t forgotten it either, since before Gaskarth even had a chance to get situated, a girl a few rows back from me screamed “Play Remembering Sunday.”

Her shriek was met with both giggles as we all agreed and one challenger who screamed back “He’s never going to play it. Why even try?”

What you need to know about me is that “Remembering Sunday” was a song I held dearly. It’s what drove myself and many others into All Time Low’s arms and ultimately opened that gateway for pop punk up to us. For years I had been seeing the band live, but technical difficulties and last minute setlist changes (or blatantly leaving it off) had never allowed me to experience the song, one of my favorite songs, live. So, I took to Twitter constantly blowing up the band and band member’s notifications to PLAY REMEMBERING SUNDAY. Of course, they never did.

Until– they did. Until Alex Gaskarth told us we were going to do something a little different that night. “This ones called Remembering Sunday,” he told us, strumming the opening chord. Immediately, the crowd pushed forward and I felt the heels of my feet lift up as there was no longer room on the ground to place them and my balance was replaced by the pressure of the mobbing fans anyway. I have been in plenty of pushing, rough crowds, but this was different. It wasn’t a mosh pit or an aggressive pressure, but instead there was a slight comfort in being surrounded so warmly by the people who loved this song as much as I did.

The girl to my right had never been to an All Time Low show before and I had never met her until that day, but the moment the song began we both looked at each other, a feeling of pure shock. We shared that common connection that only music can bring.

Every word fell out of my mouth with ease. Even though I didn’t listen to All Time Low every day like I did through high school, I found it so simple to slip back into that place I had once abandoned. This performance was everything I had always hoped for, but then we started nearing the duet portion, which required Juliet Simms. I wondered if she was here and I tried to remember if I could recall her recent whereabouts.

Not much time was allowed for me to worry, though, because Halsey took the stage with the band. This time, there was even more pushing and a loud roar of cheers. No one had expected that of all things. Every moment kept us literally on our toes. Anything could be coming next. The song ended with the lights high and we all just looked at each other.

I’ve never heard silence in a concert until that moment. The pure exhaustion and confusion that bounded off the crowd generated a certain bubble of peace. As we all gasped for our breath we looked around at each other, unsure of where to go from there.

I couldn’t tell you what the next song on the set was. It didn’t matter. As the band launched into it, myself and the girl to my right and probably the whole crowd, were so bewildered at what had just happened that we couldn’t even comprehend the next song and a half. Someone called out “we need a break”, which was more than true. After something like that, it was almost impossible to just return to the show. We needed an intermission or something.

It took me a while to process this performance, longer than most. My post concert depression hit me in a different way this time, which is why it took me so long to put this together. Performances like that happen maybe twice in a lifetime and I was lucky to be among it.

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