By: Greg Grits
I had the distinct pleasure of spending part of my fourth of July weekend with Taking Back Sunday in Phoenix, AZ at The Marquee Theater. It’s been a few years since I last joined them and not only are they back with their strongest album in a long while, but this tour also marks the return of TBS’s original line up.
The show started with The New Regime who were decent, but ultimately forgettable. After a few more drinks The Colour Revolt took the stage and if you haven’t seen this band, you’re missing out. They were the best parts of mewithoutyou with their own style, but end of the day were just super awesome. I bought their record after the show.
Next up was Thursday, a band I loved in my younger days, but who lost me somewhere along the way. Their set was great, exactly how I remembered them. Tight, full of energy. Their set was mostly newer material, but they did bring out the deep classic “Jet Black New Year” off of the somewhat obscure Five Stories Falling EP and the place erupted with happy fans.
Taking Back Sunday took the stage in grand fashion, kicking off their set with “MakeDamnSure,” which made the whole room release all the energy they’d been storing up until that point. It’s always gutsy to open a show with one of your biggest hits, but this definitely set the stage for the rest of the night. Despite the fact that I had promised a review for this show, I needed to mosh to this set. Taking Back Sunday practically demands it (in fact, I think they may have literally demanded it). I did, like a pissed off 15-year-old and it was the most fun I’d had in a while. Their set was a great mix of old favorites and new songs that reminded me why I love this band. So much energy, and a sense of passion that can sometimes be forgotten in all of the “chillwave” and “reverb.” TBS played a great show and they’ve still got it.
For no reason other than to make it an all-day event (and maybe to snag some limited edition merch), my friend Jimmy and I were the first to arrive at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater on September 17th. After a long day of sitting in lawn chairs under umbrellas and chugging gallon-bottles of water, the line condenses, security gets tighter, and finally the gates swing open.
Next on the docket: Taking Back Sunday. These guys are one of those bands that I’ve always known, always heard around, I even know a couple of songs, but I never really got into. They put on a good stage performance, with lots of mic swinging. Adam Lazzara must practice with the swinging a lot because he was quite a trickster and there were multiple times I thought he’d hit guitarist Matthew Fazzi in the face, but didn’t. They played the song of theirs that everyone loves—“Cute Without the ‘E’ (Cut From the Team)”—and half the crowd sang it at the top of their lungs. After a rockin’ and sweaty set, Taking Back Sunday relinquished the stage to Weezer in a big round of applause.
It seemed as though the entire crowd (at least those sitting) were on the edge of their seat because the moment Weezer took over the stage, everyone was on their feet. Cheering at a stage full of men in white track suits seemed a little odd, but the moment they started playing, the scene fell into place. Their set choices could not have been better. They played an excellent mix of old and new, including all of my favorites.
About the music, Blink has never sounded so good and the set was amazing. Have you ever been to a show where every song you thought, “OMG this is my favorite!” Okay, so I may have dorked out a bit but the best of Blink—“Rock Show,” “Damnit,” “Violence,” and so on—would be hard-pressed not to do the same. Near the end of the show, Travis did a drum solo while his kit ascended, swung from the ceiling, and rotated until Travis was at a 90-degree angle with the floor. And, as always, his performance was still flawless. Blink’s music seemed to only benefit from their years apart, as they all refined their skills and cleaned up their sound in +44 and Angels and Airwaves. The show was fantastic.
As we were all fleeing the stadium in hopes of escaping the parking lot in a reasonable amount of time (which I didn’t) we were stopped to make way for the tour vans to leave. Out of one leaned Mark as it drove by and he waved at everyone and shouted “thank you.” Talented and nice. The perfect pair. An amazing trio.
