Review: Paramore regroups in St. Paul with ageless gusto and fun support from the Linda Lindas

After roaring onto the scene as one of rock's most confident, capable young frontpeople a decade ago, Hayley Williams showed off more of a vulnerable and troubled side Wednesday night during her reborn band Paramore's sold-out Xcel Energy Center concert.

Predictably, though, the cracks in her façade only made Williams shine brighter.

Wednesday's show in St. Paul followed a string of postponements on Paramore's first tour in five years. The singer very apologetically blamed the delays on unspecified illness and the rigors of touring at 34 instead of in her 20s.

"My body just gave out," she said in a post last week.

Probably not helping the young rock vet feel any younger, the first of two opening bands on Wednesday was Los Angeles teen-punk group the Linda Lindas, who went viral in 2021 with a thrillingly youthful live clip from a public library.

What a genuine blast the Linda Lindas are in person. Ranging in age from drummer Mila de la Garza, 12, to singer/bassist Bela Salazar, 18, the quartet showed a tight fervor and flashed constant wicked grins as they tore through a half-hour of feminist anthems and equality-preaching rants such as "Too Many Things" and "Racist, Sexist Boy."

In the middle slot, British sextet Foals delivered a solid and intense set of nervy Talking-Heads-meets-Gang-of-Four groove-punk, which seemed best received by the moms and dads in attendance. The kids did kindly light up their cellphone lights, though — or "torches," per singer Yannis Philippakis — in the slowly tempestuous "Mountain at My Gates," creating a memorable moment before his band's ultra-manic closer, "What Went Down."

Whatever was ailing Williams last week, there was no sign of it as she hit the stage wearing a big smile and checkered red-and-black short suit to the tune of "You First." She then also quickly showed off her rock-solid, full-throated vocal power in the nervously frayed second song, "The News."

The first two of eight songs played Wednesday from Paramore's new album, "This Is Why" — a couple too many, but fans didn't seem to mind — those opening tunes also presaged some of what Williams would talk about between songs.

"Let all the feelings you've been storing up inside you out tonight," she told the 14,000 or so fans. Then she let out a lot of what she had apparently been storing up since the pandemic.

Before the wiry new tune "Big Man, Little Dignity" — which she said was about men who feel inadequate (not her exact words) — the Tennessee-raised Williams urged the crowd to vote, seemingly following up on her strong advocacy in recent years of women's reproductive rights.

"You don't have as many things to worry about in Minnesota as we do back in Tennessee," she said, "but promise to hold people in power accountable. I'm sick of living in a selfish [bleeping] country."

Later she sang about betrayal and shame in another new song, "Liar," one of the more intimate and powerful moments in the nearly two-hour set. She performed that one on an elevated stage side by side with her two core bandmates Taylor York and Zac Farro (all friends since grade school).

The rest of the show highlighted the trio's expansion into a septet on stage, with the auxiliary musicians adding oomph to rockier older songs such as the "Twilight" movie track "Decode." Those extra players proved especially more valuable in the more rhythmic, disco-leaning excursions such as "Caught in the Middle" and "Hard Times."

For all its snarl and roar, Paramore really has turned into a nicely purring dance band, too, a point also hit home in the encore with the new album's title track. Williams herself seemed to be having a blast during those more upbeat numbers.

"Feet have been moving, voices have been singing, and feelings have been feeling," she said with pride, seemingly marking off her checklist.

She could've marked those checks in extra-thick ink, too.