Paramore debuted "This Is Why," brought back "Misery Business" at first show in four years

October 3, 2022

Paramore played their first show in over four years at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield, CA last night. They opened with the live debut of their great new single “This Is Why,” played “Simmer” off Hayley Williams’ 2020 debut solo album Petals For Armor, “Boogie Juice” by drummer Zac Farro’s HalfNoise project, and they brought back “Misery Business,” which they’d previously retired due to its controversial lyric. About halfway through the song, Hayley paused and explained:

Four years ago, we said we were gonna retire this song for a little while, and I guess technically we did! But what we did not know was that just about five minutes after I got cancelled for saying the word ‘whore’ in a song, all of TikTok decided that it was ok. Make it make sense.

I remember a time when we had a MySpace and we were still a really small band. We were really small. We hadn’t even put out this song and we had noticed that kids were calling themselves “Parawhores.” We were like, “Ughh, that’s weird.” But I guess what I’m trying to say is, it’s a word, and if you’re cool you won’t call a woman a whore because that’s bullshit. You know, we can all learn from ourselves, right? But just for the record, 90 per cent of you said whore tonight. That’s all I’m gonna say. I’m not gonna preach about it. I’m just gonna say thank you for being nostalgic about this because this is one of the coolest moments of our show and it’s very nice to feel like there’s a reason to bring it back that’s positive.

It follows Hayley performing the song with Billie Eilish at Coachella. In a recent interview with The Guardian, Hayley said that she had actually tried to talk Billie out of covering it, but then decided “it shouldn’t be about me. People grow and learn. I’d already called myself out and done a lot of work on the misogyny I’d metabolised as a young girl.” Check out the full setlist and videos of “This Is Why,” “Misery Business,” and “Simmer” from the show below.

Paramore’s new album This Is Why comes out February 10 via Atlantic. Pre-order it on clear or standard black vinyl. Their sold-out tour hits NYC on November 13 at Beacon Theatre.

Paramore @ Mechanics Bank Arena – 10/2/22 Setlist (via)
This Is Why (Live Debut)
Brick by Boring Brick
Decode
Caught in the Middle
That’s What You Get
Ignorance
Forgiveness
I Caught Myself
Pool
Misguided Ghosts
Simmer (Hayley Williams song)
Ain’t It Fun
Boogie Juice (HalfNoise cover) (Zac Farro on lead vocals)
Rose-Colored Boy (Interpolates “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston & “Genius of Love” by Tom Tom Club)
Told You So
Misery Business