Hayley Williams bounces back from illness at a thrilling Paramore concert in Milwaukee

About 35 minutes into Paramore's Fiserv Forum show in Milwaukee Tuesday, frontwoman Hayley Williams made a confession while striking what might have been the night's hundredth rock-star pose.

"Don't let me fool you I'm not trying to look cool," Williams said as she crouched down onto her bent right knee while stretching out her left leg. "I'm catching my breath."

It was understandable: Across two hours, the 34-year-old Williams made the case that, when it comes to relentless energy at a rock show, she is the Mick Jagger of her generation.

In a packed house of passionate (and frequently younger) Paramore fans, no one was wilding out more than Williams, whose energy even eclipsed her last massive show in town on Summerfest’s biggest stage in 2014, when she was 25. Her unstoppable movement was all the more staggering considering Paramore's tour just resumed Saturday, after Williams' lung infection forced the band to reschedule four dates last month.

But Tuesday in Milwaukee, Williams seemed invincible, moving, like Jagger, like she was possessed by the music. Frequently, she was squatting, leaping, flailing her arms, shaking her hips, whipping her hair, stomping her feet and scooting across the stage in her knee-high boots.

For the climax of set-opener "You First" from latest album "This Is Why" — a more complex musical statement without sacrificing the band's youthful inertia — Williams perfectly timed a shoulder-high kick with a confetti blast over the crowd. For "This Is Why" single "Running Out of Time," she literally ran in place. And during longtime standard "That's What You Get," she was doing jumping jacks; she bent so far backward for the song's final note that she looked like she was going to recreate Regan's upside-down spider walk from "The Exorcist."

The band — including longtime official members Taylor York on guitar and Zac Farro on drums, plus four touring musicians (including terrific new guitarist Brian Robert Jones) — didn't even try to keep up with Williams' exertion, aside from a performance of "This Is Why" song "Crave" during which the band members were bouncing around like they were on pogo sticks.

But they sounded great, generating the necessary fuel for Williams' fire while she delivered soaring, piercing vocals all night long — without any backing vocal padding — despite the set's physical demands.

That said, there were a couple of exceptions to Williams' unstoppable motion — including "The Only Exception," whose tender, lovestruck lyrics conveyed greater resonance from a more mature singer. There also were a couple of sparsely arranged songs performed on a B-stage — "This Is Why" song "Liar" and Williams' solo tune "Crystal Clear." Most tours stage their B-stage moments close to an audience, while Paramore's B-stage was actually further back from the audience behind the main stage. Nevertheless Williams, in silhouette in front of a video screen, transformed the arena into an intimate space.

The night's first slow movement didn't come until nine songs into Paramore's 21-song setlist, with "Last Hope." In her stillness, under the orange glow of the stage's lights, Williams softly yearned for happiness, finding solace in the possibility that some day that contentment may come.

"It's not that I don't feel the pain," Williams sang gently but resoundingly. "It's just that I'm not afraid of hurting anymore."

More than her superhuman stage presence, it's Williams' vulnerability — and, yes, her acidic kiss-offs — that continues to draw people in. It's why, during these especially anxious times, when emo and pop punk have re-emerged to help a new generation cope with the world, that Paramore's influence and impact has become more paramount.

And it's why, to Williams' shock Tuesday, that most of the people on the floor raised their hands when she asked if this was anyone's first Paramore show.

"Here's to 20 more years maybe," Williams teased to elated screams Tuesday after catching her breath.

Only 20? Jagger's still crushing stages at 80. And by the look of things Tuesday, Williams seems to have what it takes to do the same.

Foals, The Linda Lindas opened the show

Foals’ towering single “Inhaler” might have propelled the British band to arena and festival headliner status stateside — if it didn’t arrive at the tail end of indie rock’s dominance. A decade later, live at Fiserv Forum, the song took on even grander proportions, with a dynamic, elongated drum build (supplied by Jack Bevan, wearing a custom Bucks jersey) that generated so much momentum that the song felt like it was still accelerating as he gave the sticks a rest. And against the odds, frontman Yannis Philippakis mustered even more drama for set closer “What Went Down,” ferociously singing until his face was dark red — twice.

But for all the density, in the band's 35-minute set, Foals showcased the polyrhythmic grooves that's set them apart from their peers, from set opener "Wake Me Up" with traces of the Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime" on the keys to subsequent song "2001" and its splash of the Clash's "London Calling." And as pleased as Foals seemed to be playing the kind of venue that suits their music, Philippakis seemed particularly happy to play this particular venue, dedicating "Birch Tree" to a fellow Greece native, Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Tuesday wasn’t just the start of August for punk band the Linda Lindas. As one of the members said during their set, it was a reminder that school was coming back soon.

Singer and guitarist Bela Salazar is 18, but the rest of the Los Angeles-based band — singer and drummer Mila de la Garza, her singer and guitarist sister Lucia, and singer and bassist Eloise Wong — are just 12, 16 and 15, respectively.

Quite the summer break, and the band is still in delightful disbelief, with Lucia geeking out to see a Linda Lindas sign in the pit Tuesday.

But they've earned the right to be there. Their confidence and live chops might defy expectations for their age, but their lyrics are wonderfully raw and youthful. Salazar’s caffeinated ode to her cat, “Nino,” inspired widespread cheers, while Wong, relegated to a stool due to an injury, still unleashed scorched-earth vocals for world-on-fire rager “Fine” and the band’s furious viral breakout “Racist, Sexist Boy.”

8 takeaways from Paramore's Milwaukee concert

• Perhaps 30 seconds into Tuesday's set, Hayley Williams put the show on pause when people in the pit flagged her about a distressed fan, who in turn flagged security to help out. "Thank you for looking out for each other out there," Williams told the crowd. (Foals also stopped the show so security could help someone in the pit, also after being flagged by fans.)

• Pausing the show a second time to welcome the crowd, Williams noticed several people pointing to their left, directing her attention to a fan with a sign that read, "Please make me a tattoo." "You've got it, baby," Williams told the fan. "That was a community effort. You see what can happen when we work together." After the show, Williams did track down the fan with the request and took them backstage.

• Per tradition, Williams also invited a fan on stage to sing "Misery Business," a girl named Audrey whose dad had posted on Twitter about attending her first Paramore show. The girl was understandably shy, but she did quietly sing along; Williams gave her tons of positive energy and praised her bravery, inspiring the crowd to chant Audrey's name.

• A few dozen fans were also invited to gather on stage in a pit below the B-stage for the encore, with Williams singing to them multiple times and making her show exit through the small crowd of fans.

• Before taking the mic to sing "Baby" by his band HalfNoise, drummer Zac Farro gave a shout-out to some fans in the pit he recognized after meeting them at a bowling alley the night before, where evidently they all won rubber duckies.

• There have been a lot of reported incidents of fans throwing things on stage at concerts this summer, at times hurting some artists, but Williams was ready to receive one object Tuesday: a pair of rose-tinted sunglasses she caught from a fan. She briefly wore them for "Rose-Colored Boy."

• "Rose-Colored Boy" briefly morphed into a cover of Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" Tuesday, while Blondie's "Heart of Glass" made a cameo appearance in the middle of "Hard Times."

• On multiple occasions, Williams talked about how she wanted Paramore's two-hour set to be an escape from the outside world, but she also took a moment to get political. "I would like us to promise each other that we will hold people in power accountable to take care of people. It's not happening enough in America, and there's a way we can ensure it. … Voting is the only way we can ensure an equitable future for each other because it's not just about ourselves it's about all of us. … Let's not vote any more people with small (expletive) energy into positions of power. We can do better."

Paramore's Fiserv Forum 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. "Big Man, Little Dignity"

11. "Liar"

12. "Crystal Clear"

13. "Hard Times"

14. "Figure 8"

15. "The Only Exception"

16. "Crave"

17. "Baby"

18. "Misery Business"

19. "Ain't It Fun"

20. "Still Into You"

21. "This Is Why"

Editor's Note: This story has been revised with the correct name of "That's What You Get."

Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Hayley Williams bounces back from illness at Milwaukee Paramore show