Throughout a year of member changes and major label debuts, Saves the Day and Taking Back Sunday still pulled through smelling clean.
With rumors circling that TBS had broken up, I was pissed, then confused, then happy that they were back together, albeit with two new members. Added to a few dates at the end of the Warped Tour, they now prepare for a new album due to be released sometime early 2004. Saves the Day however has taken the jump to the big leagues, with that coveted next step in the world of music. Some people refer to it as selling out, but I’ll let you make that decision. As for this tour it’s simply been called the coming out party for the both acts.
First up was Canada’s Moneen, who are fresh off the release of their Vagrant Record's debut, Are We Really Happy. Pumping their 30 minute set full of a considerable amount of new material, they combined clear-cut rock and punk rhythms, ambient guitar riffs and plenty of frontman Kenny Bridges’ hyper vocal lyrical style. “Start Angry…End Mad” got the set going and the poignant, “Life’s Too Short little Ndugu” screamed to the crowd to live everyday as if it’s the last. Thrashing around the stage as if he’d gone mad, Bridges got the early crowd moving and plenty juiced up for the main event.
Taking Back Sunday took the stage with a slow walk, and a wave in response to the enormous cheer from the 1,200 or so in attendance. Oddly enough, my bet on the set opener was right, and “You Know How I Do,” the opening track from their 2002 debut
Tell All Your Friends, got it started from the opening notes. With the crowd pressed together so tight I could lift my feet and still stay upright, lead singer, Adam Lazzara, ensured us that, “we wont stand for hazy eyes anymore,” with his mic swinging in full action. And the “new” Taking Back Sunday lineup showed no signs of an apparent let down.
Unsure that new guitarist/vocalist Fred Mascherino (replacement for John Nolan) would be able to fill those previous shoes - after seeing a monster TBS show this past April - I was pleasantly surprised to say that he surpassed Nolan in both vocal screaming/singing and guitar playing. He seamlessly stepped in and played every song with ease.
For the past three years, TBS have been on a touring frenzy, quickly accumulating loyal fans all over the world. Lazzara and Mascherino sing back and forth and over each other with an unrelenting hardcore sound that allows them to go past the conventional snare of many emo bands. Adding pop elements to favorites, “Great Romances of the 20th Century” and “You’re So Last Summer,” and ripping through “Cute Without the E”(Cut from the Team)” the crowd sung along “Why cant I feel anything for anyone other than you?” as well as “The only thing that I regret is I, I never let you hold me back!” But “Timberwolves at New Jersey” got the place in a frenzy, screaming their hearts out on the line “You know I can’t help it/ I’ve got the mike and you’ve got the most pit.” Even by the last song, “There’s no ‘I’ in Team”, the energy never died down, as the last lyric “Best friend thinks I pulled the trigger/ Best friends think you get what your deserve.”
Saves The Day got things started in much the same fashion, breaking out “At Your Funeral”, the first track from their 2001 release Stay What You Are. Singer/guitarist Chris Conley looked like a blonde Rivers Cuomo playing his guitar with a green polo shirt and full-on nerd glasses to match. And after touring with Weezer in 2002, it’s apparent their sound rubbed off on them, because now they sound quite similar. With clusters of songs from both Stay What You Are and new release, In Reverie, set maintained a steady pace, though the crowd lost the momentum it had built an hour before, and by the closer, most were standing rather than packing the floor. Following TBS was sort of like when Jimi Hendrix, at the Monterey Pop, wanted to go on before the Who, but after debate, went on last and brought the house down lighting his guitar on fire. Well not to that extent, but you get the point…
photo courtesy of takingbacksunday.com.
