Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Friday March 17, 2017 :
Home grown openers Endless Heights kicked off the night at the Enmore theatre and the boys are eager and whiling to warm the early punters on Friday night for the pop punk showcase.
Australian fans were rewarded with the first local shows from Seattle band Acceptance who provided a dynamic and extensive set list which included much music from their recently released album Colliding By Design.
Then come headliners Taking Back Sunday, the room is filled with anticipation and strangely enough a few teenagers who wouldn’t have been more than a few years old when their debut Tell All Your Friends came out in 2002 almost 15 yeas ago to the day, they open with ‘Death Wolf’, a track from their latest album Tidal Wave.
Taking Back Sunday knew their role for tonight’s gig, they weren’t going to do a set list heavily based on new tracks with classics littered in between. They played for the fans, and gave the crowd benchmark tracks like ‘Liar’ and ‘A Decade Under The Influence’, this played well and nostalgia had filled the air and arms where being thrown around shoulders from early in the night.
One thing that was a bit odd was seeing a fully-grown 35 year old man singing emotionally fuelled lyrics like “With my one last gasping breath, I’d apologise for bleeding on your shirt”. Naturally with time the band has lost some of its youthful naivety that had shot them to success in the early 2000’s, but this has been replaced by a more professional, out together and cohesive band (after multiple band members leaving and returning).
There are a lot of emo and pop punk bands touring old albums and bringing out new material at the moment, but Taking Back Sunday still have something the others always lacked, they are essentially really fun. It’s a simple element that really shows. They are high energy and they look like they are enjoying themselves while they are doing it. They aren’t self-serving, playing the tracks you want to hear from their oldest albums to the newest. There is banter between the band members and the crowd.
Lead singer Adam Lazzara has also had years to perfect the art of microphone acrobatics swinging it around with style and finesse. However I must state, don’t try this at home kids. All of these things put together means for a good night and good energy for the punters to enjoy and will guarantee Taking Back Sunday a steady following for years to come.
Reviewer : Amy Heycock
Photographer : Alicia Stephenson
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