Taking Back Sunday - Academy, Manchester - 24th August 2011 (Live Review)
Thursday, 01 September 2011
Written by Kimberley Martinez-Meakins
Taking Back Sunday formed back in 1999 by guitarist Eddie Reyes. Current members of the band are Adam Lazzara, John Nolan, Eddie Reyes, Shaun Cooper and Mark O'Connell. They have had many line up changes and former members include none other than Jesse Lacey of Brand New.
'Louder Now', is the band's breakout album, selling over 900,000 copies and peaked at Number Two in the United States Billboard in 2006 closely followed by 'Where You Want to Be', which peaked at Number Three in 2004. Before the release of their first studio album 'Tell All Your Friends' (2002), they had released 'Taking Back Sunday' EP (2001). John and Shaun had previously left the band in 2003 only to return later on and release their eponymous album 'Taking Back Sunday' earlier on this year.
The band has stated that 'Taking Back Sunday' was written by one of them producing a riff and everyone else adds onto it and they perfect the song around it. And once the instrumentals are complete, John and Adam take lines from their notebooks and put them together for the song's lyrics.
Now that's enough about their background, I have been waiting to see this band for eight years. As soon as I walked into Manchester Academy I was surprised by a few things. Firstly the place was dead. It wasn't even half full which was strange as when I initially arrived at the venue about 4 hours before to interview the band, there were people already queuing. The thought of Taking Back Sunday not selling out a venue of that size just seemed strange. Also, the people who were there seemed rather young, I don't mean that in a bad way, I have loved Taking Back Sunday since I was a teen so I just assumed that the people going would be between 16 and their mid 20's rather than 13 year olds.
The first support band was The Xcerts, they have been together since they were 13. Powering through a distortion-laden set, the band are so loud, what I was most surprised by was their drummer, its hard to find someone who has both power and excellent timing but they seem to have found one. They have been talked about for a few years and been one of those bands that you hear that you should watch out for. I truly hope that this is their year, they are loud and powerful and very talented.
I am Giant were on next. The audience love them however I wasn't a fan, they were reminiscent of Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows, which isn't a bad thing but I was paying more attention to their matching shirts than their music. Their front man has presence and attitude, musically they were good, again, a very good drummer but both guys on the bass and guitar didn't look like they wanted to be there, and musically it didn't blow my mind.
Finally, after eight years of waiting, Taking Back Sunday appeared and they kicked off their performance with a personal favorite of mine 'El Paso'. The crowed, regardless of how small they were, went mental. My inner 16 year old came out.
The band were entertaining, energetic, passionate and everything that any fan could have dreamed of. Every song they played went down magnificently from, 'You Know How I Do', 'Faith', 'Bikescene', 'Prom Night' and the other 15 tracks.
Adam's microphone management is just as entertaining as always. If you don't know what referring to, please YouTube one of their live performances, he swings, throws and wraps the mic all over the place. How he hasn't managed to either strangle himself of seriously injure one of his fellow band members is beyond me but he is a pro and he did not miss one note.
It is so great to see the twelve-year-old band back together, they are exceptional; the old songs sound as passionate as when they were first aired and the new songs easily fill the room with soaring sound. Watching John Nolan and Shaun Cooper play alongside their previous bandmates is a pleasure and a privilege in itself, Johns voice is just superb, between him and Adam, there really is no fault. Their voices are like a marriage made in heaven.
Adam spent half of the time on stage, crouching down or even sat near the audience and the other half with the audience, running around near the bar and by the sound station. He kept mentioning how he was being felt up by fans which to be honest it wouldn't surprise me, he is a very pretty man after all. You could see Eddie was getting irritated, he shouted to the audience asking them to "get off him" and at one point he looked like he was about to walk off stage. However, that said, their relationship seems stronger than ever, especially that of John and Adam's.
Having John and Shaun finally back to reprise their original roles on the 'Tell All Your Friends' songs definitely elevated that material to new heights. Having loved this band and knowing their up and downs this was truly a dream come true and my inner 16 year old (fringe and all) has finally seen a little piece of heaven.
They completed their set with 'Cute Without The 'E'' and encore 'There's No 'I' In Team' to which I was hoping to see Jesse Lacey jump out of thin air and sing that with John and maybe even mix it in with 'Seventy Times Seven'. Unfortunately my dream didn't comes true but then again, I can't envisage Jesse Lacey joining Taking Back Sunday.
Watching them perform was amazing. Was the eight year wait worth it? Hell yeah! John is still as sexy as ever, Adam as entertaining and slightly crazy as you could wish for, Mark's drumming as aggressive and perfect as you need, Shaun and Eddie have the most astonishing balance. It is as if they have never been away and I seriously can not wait to see them again.
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Adam's microphone management is just as entertaining as always. If you don't know what referring to, please YouTube one of their live performances, he swings, throws and wraps the mic all over the place. How he hasn't managed to either strangle himself of seriously injure one of his fellow band members is beyond me but he is a pro and he did not miss one note.
