So, on Monday night I saw Taking Back Sunday live for the first time ever. They formed in 1999 and since about 2002 when Tell All Your Friends was released they have been one of my favourite bands. I used to switch between their CD's and S Club 7 on my walkman and my sister literally can't remember not knowing them since she was born the same year they formed. I'm pretty sure my first crush was Adam Lazzara. We've grown up with them - gone from toddlers, to teenagers to young adults. As you can imagine they mean quite a lot to us. It just so happens that every time they've toured over here we have either been abroad, tickets sold out before we could get them or we were too young to get in but finally we had tickets.
Having to do a bit of a detour to pick my brother up from Cardiff we were of course late and thought we'd missed first support band Blitz Kids but it turned out that for reasons unknown (even to them) that Marmozets played first. A tad bit gutted because I really wanted to actually see them, as opposed to hearing them on the outskirts of the NME tent, to see whether they could change my mind on the gimmicky impression they had left. However, I was glad I got to see Blitz Kids. From the very start of the set to the end front man Joe James was pitch perfect. Their sound is relatively unique to anything i've ever really heard it's rocky with a touch of pop-punk on certain elements and the main vocals as well as the backing/gang vocals all sounded perfect live. Apparently they don't really have that much support in Bristol but this set, which included tracks like 'Sold My Soul,' 'All I Want Is Everything' and closed with 'Perfect,' was enough to change that and the four piece seemed to notice.
When it was time for Taking Back Sunday the atmosphere in the room made it feel like Jimmy Eat World shows. Its that whole energy that surrounds these bands that have been around for so long and still consistently put out good music, who's shows are still fun and where the members clearly still care. There's no just 'going through the motions' feel to the shows and when they came on to 'What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?' and I got that feeling I was so unbelievably happy. It's such a hard feeling to describe, in the past i've tried to explain Jimmy Eat World shows to my brother and I just couldn't but when he turned to me and grinned during 'A Decade Under The Influence' I could finally explain it to him - because he was feeling it. They played through an amazing set list that included a lot of their biggest and best songs from over the years as well as some of their very best newer songs from Happiness Is. The 'Liar (It Takes Ones To Know One)' and 'Timberwolves At New Jersey' duo was absolutely deadly so when the slightly slower 'Faith (When I Let You Down)' started to be strummed you could feel the relief from the tired crowd, but the intensity of the singing didn't dissipate.
Up until this point Adam and John had been like a stand up comedy act trading back and forth their witty banter but before 'Better Homes And Gardens' Adam became serious telling us how the song almost didn't make the album because it was too emotional for him but that playing it helps him. It was a sobering speech and a powerful performance. Quickly flipping the happy switch Adam was back to joking with the crowd, threatening to 'pop' some guy in the face with his mic before deciding against it "well, I won't but you know I could" being one of the most accurate statements to ever leave his mouth. Watching Adam swing the mic round all night seemingly recklessly but never hitting anyone/himself I don't doubt that he has beyond mad skills with that thing now that i've witnessed it with my own eyes. Strangely there was no mosh pits for 'Error: Operator' but one of the biggest all night for 'My Blue Heaven' which seemed kind of weird but I was far too dazed by the magic of Taking Back Sunday to give it that much thought.
The reception for their new songs was just as unruly, a rare thing for bands of their age, showing how pop-punk gods can grow, change and still produce music that makes their fans show just as much passion as they do for past songs they've grown up with. This was most evident near the end of their set - they didn't do the whole encore thing to save time which was kinda cool - where 'Flicker, Fade' and 'All The Way' sandwiched 'I Know How You Do' with no change in enthusiasm from the crowd. Hearing a full room chant "we won't stand for hazy eyes anymore" gave me goosebumps but not quite as much as 'Cute Without The 'E'" did. A year ago to the date of seeing them I was in the loudest crowd i've ever been a part of at The Final Night Of Sin, the yell of "underdog" had been deafening in the sold out arena but when it came to the bridge in the Bristol o2 Academy that night Taking Back Sunday fans won. The music stopped leaving just us and Adam to yell "why can't I feel anything from anyone other than you?" so scarily loud my mum could probably hear us 100 miles away. Closing a legendary night was of course 'Make Damn Sure' evoking the monsters in us all one last time.
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