This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Point Park chapter.
As we previously mentioned, HC Point Park’s roadtrip to Cleveland for the 2015 Alternative Press Music Awards (aka the “Hot Topic Oscars”) was nothing short of fantastic. It was an honor to see so many of our favorite names in the genre receive recognition for their talents, as well as perform new and old hit songs. But as to be expected any time you put that many big personalities in one room together, there was plenty of drama.
Though it was difficult to pick the most stand-out moments of the evening (and even harder to find images of a few of them), we’ve compiled 10 of the best highlights of the awards show:
1. Alex Gaskarth and Jack Barakat of All Time Low hosting the entire shabang. Their commentary and terrible one-liners could be an entire broadcast in its own.
2. Zack Merrick and Rian Dawson, also of All Time Low, carrying Alex & Jack onto the stage. This was part of the joke that they “carry” Alex & Jack’s careers, and that no one knows who Zack & Rian are. In an effort to prove their point, Alex & Jack claimed one half of the arena as theirs, and gave the other half to Zack & Rian to see who could make more noise. Jalex’s portion of the crowd didn’t disappoint, but when it was Zian’s side’s turn, the Contemporary Youth Orchestra began to play, Cavaliers Cheerleaders ran onto the stage, and Quickens Loan Arena employees threw t-shirts and glow sticks into the audience. Sadly, this is one of the highlights we couldn’t find an image of to save our lives, but we promise it happened!
3. Technical difficulties kept popping up throughout the night, including the Kiss Cam breaking. But the show must go on, right Jack?
4. Rob Zombie coming out to perform with Motionless In White, who seemed more alive and energetic than the crowd at that point. Get it?! Because their makeup makes them look dead?!
5. Almost every artist who came onstage to present being blatantly drunk once 9:30pm hit. Also not available on the internet (why?!) was one of the August Burns Red members allowing his ‘alter ego’ named Todd Lucifer Clemons take over the mic because crowds make the real him nervous.
6. Simple Plan performing their new song “Boom” after a four-year hiatus. Welcome back to the scene, fellas.
7. Zack Merrick from All Time Low winning the Best Bassist award (take that, Jalex!) and reading his speech off notecards. Just plain adorable. Feel free to fast-forward to 2:50.
8. Trace Cyrus of Metro Station throwing mad shade at All Time Low when they should have been presenting PVRIS’s performance. We appreciate his anti-bullying message, but it’s really hard to take him seriously when he’s not wearing a shirt at an awards ceremony…
9. Hayley Williams of Paramore doing bicep curls with her Best Vocalist award. As if we didn’t have enough reasons to love her already, add an amazing sense of humor to the list!
10. Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco saving the day by performing “Bohemian Rhapsody” and dedicating it to Trace Cyrus. All we’re saying is that he needs to be asked to host the 2016 APMAs after that legendary save.
Did you watch the 2015 APMAs? What was your favorite part? Join the conversation on social media with the hashtag #APMAs!