Watch Paramore play Thick Skull live for the first time

Paramore have brought their incredible album This Is Why all over the world this year – but it’s taken until November for them to perform its epic final track.

At New Zealand’s Spark Arena in Auckland on November 19, the band gave album closer Thick Skull its long-awaited live debut during the middle of their 20-song setlist, with those who were in attendance sharing how lucky they felt to hear it, and those – like us – who’ve only been able to watch fan-shot videos expressing their jealousy…

In K!’s 4/5 review of This Is Why, we called the album “splendid”, and explained how: “Six years since Paramore unveiled the jangly art rock of After Laughter, the songwriting of these 10 tracks feel like a natural evolution: slightly older, slightly wiser, quite a lot more outraged at the state of the world.”

We also said how Thick Skull “spins its old-school introspection (‘I am a magnet for broken pieces / I am attracted to broken people’) into a bracingly contemporary composition”, adding that, “It’s impossible for those of us who’ve been with them every step of the way not to be sucked back into this intriguing next chapter of the Paramore story.”

Check out footage of Thick Skull live below.

See the full Spark Arena setlist:

1. You First
2. The News
3. That's What You Get
4. Playing God
5. Caught in the Middle
6. Rose-Colored Boy
7. Running Out of Time
8. Decode
9. Last Hope
10. Thick Skull (Live debut)
11. Crystal Clear (Hayley Williams song)
12. Hard Times
13. Figure 8
14. The Only Exception
15. Crave
16. Baby (HalfNoise song)
17. Misery Business
18. Ain't It Fun

Encore

19. Still Into You
20. This Is Why

Paramore will return to the UK next year supporting Taylor Swift.

Read this: 10 bands who wouldn’t be here without Paramore