A band that cares
As they return to Australia for their most extensive tour yet, You Me at Six have completed their transformation from teenage pop-punkers to chart-topping stadium rockers.
To celebrate their decade anniversary, the British five-piece took to the UK’s biggest venues in February to play to the audiences that sent fourth album Cavalier Youth to the top of the UK album charts last year.
While the band has plenty of experience supporting bands in arena settings — their most recent show in WA saw them support Paramore at Perth Arena — frontman Josh Franceschi says their first headlining stadium run “felt very surreal towards the end”.
“To be honest, I think our band was ready for that for a while and I think we were just trying to find the right time to go out and do that tour of England,” he says from his home in Surrey. “It was a great tour and I feel like we really put on a great show. If you’re a You Me at Six fan I felt it was a really a great night out.”
Not every screaming fan had a great time. From his vantage point on stage, Franceschi noticed some fans in distress at their London show.
“People were getting very excited, not necessarily keeping an eye on people around them and there was just a few looking a bit worse for wear, so we had to stop the show for a few minutes,” he recalls.
“We’re not a death-metal band or a hardcore band or any nonsense like that, we’re a rock band who plays chilled-out music so there’s no need for people to be getting overexcited like that.”
Feeling a responsibility to keep an eye on the safety of You Me at Six’s most devoted fans at the front, Franceschi welcomes the passion but suggests they also consider their own health.
“Some of our fans will come to our gigs hours and hours in advance or they’re queueing up the night before,” he explains.
“There is at times a bit of a health risk to that but I’m not a doctor so I don’t really know the ins and outs of it.”
You Me at Six playGroovin the Moo on April 26 (tickets from Moshtix) and at Capitol on April 28 (tickets from Oztix).
