The This Is Why Tour was the fifth concert tour by American rock band Paramore, in support of their sixth studio album This Is Why (2023). The tour began on October 2, 2022 in Bakersfield, California, before the release of the album, with several shows throughout North America, Europe, and Latin America. Elke, Bloc Party, Rozi Plain, Foals, The Linda Lindas, Genesis Owusu and Claud served as supporting acts on the tour. It concluded on November 30, 2023.
Background and development
In May 2017, Paramore released their fifth studio album After Laughter to critical acclaim. The album saw the return of former drummer Zac Farro, who had left the band in 2010. The band toured in support of the album from June 2017 until September 2018. Following the conclusion of the After Laughter Tour, the members of Paramore took a break from writing and recording music for the band and worked on other endeavors. Hayley Williams featured on the American Football song "Uncomfortably Numb" in 2019 and released two solo albums, Petals for Armor (2020) and Flowers for Vases / Descansos (2021);[1][2] the former produced by Paramore guitarist Taylor York. She also pivoted her attention more towards her hair dye company Good Dye Young and hosted the weekly BBC Sounds series Everything Is Emo. Farro continued his ongoing project HalfNoise, releasing an extended play – Flowerss (2018) – and two albums – Natural Disguise (2019) and Motif (2021).[3] Farro also recorded drums for the songs "Watch Me While I Bloom" and "Crystal Clear" from Williams' Petals for Armor and released an EP under his own name titled Zafari (2020).
Discussion about a sixth Paramore album began in 2020 while Williams was promoting Petals for Armor. Williams hinted that the band's next album would be more guitar-driven, stating, "We've found ourselves listening to a lot of older music that we grew up being inspired by."[4] She further commented on the sound of the album in 2022, likening it to Bloc Party: “From day one, Bloc Party was the number one reference because there was such an urgency to their sound that was different to the fast punk or the pop punk or the like, loud wall of sound emo bands that were happening in the early 2000s.”[5] In January 2022, the band confirmed they had entered the studio work on their sixth album.[6]
In September 2022, Paramore archived all posts on their official Instagram page and unveiled a new design for the website. The site featured a timeline of several dates throughout the month that would be updated each date.[7] These dates saw the launch of the band's official Discord server, the announcement of new tour dates in Los Angeles and New York City, and video snippets of the band working on new material. On September 16, the band announced their first new single in four years, "This Is Why", which was released on September 28.[8] The same day as the single's release, the band announced the album of the same name to be released on February 10, 2023.[9]
Following the release of the lead single off their new album, Paramore announced the first leg of the This Is Why Tour, which would begin in October 2022, a few months before the release of the album. The announced dates included limited U.S. theater performances and headlining slots at the Austin City Limits and When We Were Young festivals.[10][11][12] On October 10, 2022, the band announced a South American leg of the tour, which is set to begin in March 2023.[13][14] A month later, Paramore announced a 26-city arena tour for the United States in 2023, with Bloc Party, Foals, The Linda Lindas and Genesis Owusu joining them as supporting acts.[15]
Critical reception
Rolling Stone's Brittany Spanos gave the tour a positive review, saying it "proved that the best is yet to come" for the band.[16]
Setlists
North America leg (October 2, 2022 – November 25, 2022)
On the concert dated October 23, 2022, "Decode", "Caught In the Middle", "Forgiveness", "Pool", "Misguided Ghosts", "Simmer", "Boogie Juice", "Rose-Colored Boy", "Told You So" and "Still Into You" were not played, whislt "All I Wanted", "Here We Go Again" and "Last Hope" were played instead. The order of the songs within the setlist was changed as well.
"Here We Go Again" replaced "Ignorance" on the setlist, starting on October 27, 2022.
On the concert dated October 29, 2022, "Caught In the Middle", "Here We Go Again", "I Caught Myself", "Forgiveness", "Pool", "Simmer", "Boogie Juice", "Told You So" and "Still Into You" were not played, whislt "Careful", "Pressure" and "Last Hope" were played instead. The order of the songs within the setlist was changed as well.
On the concert dated March 5, 2023, "Pool" and "Told You So" were not played, whilst "Caught In the Middle" and a shortened acapella version of "Last Hope" were played instead.
On the concerts dated March 7, 2023 and March 9, 2023, "Decode" was not played, whilst "Caught In the Middle" were played instead. The order of the songs within the setlist was changed as well.
On the concert dated March 11, 2023, "Decode", "(One of Those) Crazy Girls" and "Told You So" were not played, whilst "Caught In the Middle" was played. The order of the songs within the setlist was changed as well.
On the concert dated March 12, 2023, "Still Into You" and "Pool" were not played, whilst "Caught In the Middle" was played. The order of the songs within the setlist was changed as well.
On the concert dated March 14, 2023, "C'est Comme Ça", "Pool" and "Scooby's in the Back" were not played, whilst "Caught In the Middle" was played. The order of the songs within the setlist was changed as well. The performance of "Told You So" contained elements of "She Wolf" by Shakira.
On the concert dated April 13, 2023, Hayley Williams performed a solo cover of "Dreams" by The Cranberries on acoustic guitar. "All I Wanted" was not played and the order of the songs within the setlist was changed as well.
On the concert dated April 15, 2023, Hayley Williams performed a solo cover of "what can you say" by Adrianne Lenker on acoustic guitar.
On the concert dated April 17, 2023, Hayley Williams performed a solo cover of "Rip It Up" by Orange Juice on acoustic guitar. "I Caught Myself" was not played.
On the concert dated April 18, 2023, "Misguided Ghosts" was played, whilst "I Caught Myself" was not played.
On the concert dated April 22, 2023, Hayley Williams and Taylor York performed "26" on acoustic guitar. "I Caught Myself" was not played.
On the concert dated May 31, 2023, Paramore was joined onstage by Lil Uzi Vert to perform "Misery Business".
On the concert dated July 19, 2023, Paramore was joined onstage by Billie Eilish to perform "All I Wanted", which was played as the first song of the encore act. "Last Hope" was not played.
On the concert dated July 20, 2023, Paramore was joined onstage by Bethany Cosentino to perform "Big Man, Little Dignity" and Rico Nasty to perform "Misery Business".
"Told You So" was removed from the setlist on July 29, 2023.
On the concert dated August 7, 2023, Paramore was joined onstage by Stephen Curry to perform "Misery Business".
Shows
List of concerts, showing date, city, country, venue and opening acts. [17]
