It made me wonder why there would be a rock show held in such a pleasant venue as it might be trashed later on in the night, but as my sister, her best friend and I entered, that thought disappeared as I saw what looked like a warehouse department.
There was the normal scanning of the ticket at the entrance, but I did not have to empty my pockets or circle around for the security, which was odd.
We arrived 10 minutes before the actual start of the show and it’s already packed, but we managed to pick a spot on the upper left hand side near the stage.
Armor For Sleep was first up to go. I’m not a big fan of theirs but I knew at least three songs, including the last song they played, “Car Underwater.”
The crowd was either loving it that they swayed and jumped back and forth, or they knew it was the last song and they were pushing their way to the front for the next band. Whatever the reason, they played an awesome show and I actually enjoyed it because yes, I’m a sucker for a boy who sings about him being in a car underwater, saying even though I abandoned him, he’d still die for me.
Speaking of “under,” the next band was Underoath. I never liked them before, but after watching them live, they were alright. At first, I thought “Okay, this guy’s vocal cords are really rough and I can’t understand what he’s saying,” so I took my focus off of the band for a moment. I took a look at who did care about their music; their fans. There was major pushing and mosh pits getting started. It was a wild scene and I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it before.
We stood by, the stairs that lead to the exit from the floor and security were trying to keep fans within a yellow line of tape so they wouldn’t get pushed and smacked into the wall or stairway. But that’s not the case. The crowd kept pushing side-to-side until that song ended, and would continue again once a new song has started.
Our view of the band was always interupted by security stopping fights and grabbing them out of the crowd or assisting the injured.
I set my focus back to the band onstage and the scorching screamer dedicated the second to last song to the one and only, Jesus Christ himself. I quickly looked at my sister and we exchanged smiles because we knew it would happen. A few months ago, I wouldn’t have thought that this hardcore, emo, screamo band was a hardcore, emo, screamo, Christian band.
Then finally came the band I was waiting for all night, Taking Back Sunday, who had about a two minute bizarre foreign orchestra type musical playing before showing up on stage. Opening with their second song on their album Louder Now, “Liar (It Takes One To Know One,”) a few camera flashes lit up the stage which then disappeared as the stage lights turned on.
Vocalist Adam Lazzara’s voice was amazing yet he mentioned he had a rough couple of days and said he wasn’t going to lie about that. I’m thinking that’s also why he didn’t really sing on key just as it is on their album, Louder Now.
Although the spot we were in was the closest to them as possible, it still wasn’t much of a great view because there was a curtain that wasn’t pulled all the way (which by the way, only allowed us fans on the far left to see the words “SUNDAY” and “NOW”), cables hanging from the ceiling, and a pole that got in the way of my view of the drummer; I would be able to see Mark O’Connell’s bass drum, the stupid pole, his other drum and cymbals, and I rarely caught a glimpse of his back.
The crowd went crazy when their most hyped song began to play, “Cute Without The ‘E'”. Everyone was yelling and screaming out the words while watching Lazzara’s infamous mic swinging abilities. The band played a good amount of older and newer songs. An encore of 3 songs, “Divine Intervention,” “Error Operator,” and finished off with their widely known single, “MakeDamnSure.”
I found out why all three of these bands toured together: they all are heavy believers in their own beliefs. Pointing out the obvious is Underoath: They believe in Jesus Christ and not dinosaurs.
