Taking Back Sunday

By Sian Clay

On Monday 29th August 2011 the much-loved American rock band Taking Back Sunday greeted the City Of Bath with their presence. In a small hall-like venue the crowd gathered to see band members; Adam Lazzara, John Nolan, Eddie Reyes, Shaun Cooper and Mark O’connell do what they do best; perform. And perform is exactly what they did.

As the clock hit 9:00pm the crowd began to get excitable, knowing that the band so many had come to see would soon be taking to the stage. As chatter drowned out the DJ’s music the lights suddenly went down, the music came to an end and the crowd cheered for the band. After keeping the crowd in suspense for a brief time the band emerged from the side of the stage, each coming on and taking their place. The last member to appear was the eagerly awaited lead vocalist Adam Lazzara who was warmly greeted with cheers from the crowd.

The band kickstarted the show with a ‘El Paso’ a song from their new self-titled album released here in the UK in June this year; an excellent choice to start the set with from the crowds reaction; A sea of hands in the air and heads bopping along with fans screaming the lyrics back to the band.

The second song from the bands set was the classic ‘MakeDamnSure’ from the 2006 album ‘Louder now’ which the crowd went crazy for on hearing just the first few notes. The crowd instantly sang along to every word and gave it their all, at times even overpowering the vocals of front man Adam Lazzara.

After singing several more songs, including ‘Faith (When I Let You Down)’ ‘Error Operator’ and ‘One-Eighty by Summer,’ the band took a break from playing to talk to the crowd, thanking them for taking the time to come to the show, adding “I’m sure there’s better things you could be doing in your beautiful city.” It appears the band took quite a shining to Bath on their visit.

The set carried on with an upbeat and energetic pace, the band giving it their all and not relenting even for a minute, continuing with another song that received a great reaction; ‘Liar (It Takes One to Know One)’ a real crowd pleaser with everyone screaming along to the chorus with real passion.

Throughout the show the band played a variety of tracks from all of their albums including ‘You Know How I Do’, ‘Bike Scene’ and ‘Timberwolves at New Jersey’ from their first album ‘Tell All Your Friends’.

During the show front man Adam Lazzara would take a moment after every few songs to interact with the crowd for a few minutes, making it that little bit more intimate. At one point Adam spoke to the crowd about the song ‘Timberwolves at New Jersey’ informing those who didn’t know, the story behind the song title. Lazzara, joking with the crowd and even adding a ‘that’s what she said’ joke, had the crowd laughing and cheering; you could see this was more than just a show for the band but having fun with their fans and ensuring everyone was having an all around great time.

The band broke up their set with a cover of Straylight Run’s ‘Existentialism on Prom Night.’ From the crowds reaction it was clear this was a good choice with cheers filling the venue as soon as the song title left Lazzara’s lips. A more gentle performance from the band, with mic swings, exchanged for an acoustic guitar.

Taking Back Sunday ended their fantastic set with the band’s classic ‘Cute Without the E’ which had every member of the crowd singing along. The atmosphere was electrifying.

As the band left the stage after a brief “Thank you for coming, Goodnight,” the crowd made it quite clear that they were far from ready to call it a night by chanting ‘TBS, TBS, TBS’ until the band re-emerged a few minutes later for an encore.

Before beginning with their next song, Lazzara explained the reason behind their choice. Whilst sight-seeing in the city the band were approached by some fans who made the request for “Great Romances of the Twentieth Century” and it was those fans lucky day as Lazzara dedicated the song to them with “This one’s for you.” The song went down a treat with the whole crowd, but in particular, the girls in the front row who had clearly requested it judging by their screams of delight.

The band finally closed the show with ‘There’s No ‘I’ in Team’ which had everyone jumping, dancing and singing along; the crowd clearly making the most of the last song of the night. As the song drew to a close the band said their final goodbye’s and left the stage for the last time.

As the crowd began to disperse you could tell by the smiles on everyone’s faces and the buzz in the air that Taking Back Sunday really put on a show that the crowd loved. Overall, the band put on amazing show full of energy and interaction with the crowd. Judging by the crowd’s reaction, hopefully they will return to do more shows very soon!

One response to “Taking Back Sunday”

  1. […] read the full detailed review by Sian Clay, click here now! Advertisement LD_AddCustomAttr("AdOpt", "0"); LD_AddCustomAttr("Origin", "other"); […]

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