Gig

Taking Back Sunday – Gig Review 29th November @ 170 Russell, Melbourne VIC

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Heavy Metal Wordsmith

Dec 1, 2023

7 min read

Taking Back Sunday
170 Russell, Melbourne
November 29, 2023
Support: Late 90’s & The Lazy Susan’s

The Melbourne Elder Emos were out in full force on Wednesday night for the triumphant return of Taking Back Sunday to Australian shores. It’s been a few years since the Long Island legends have graced our shores and I was excited as always to see them in action again (I realised walking into the venue that this would be my 14th time seeing TBS. Fanboy much?).

Late 90’s opened proceedings for the evening and were a fine example of exactly why you should roll in early and catch the supports. Just like their namesake, the band channelled late nineties grungey greatness and I loved every second of it. I’m definitely keep my eye on that one.

If I had to use one word to describe The Lazy Susan’s set, it would have to be endearing. They had all my favourite things: emotionally charged songs, wonderfully relatable lyrics and they were just an absolute joy to watch perform. I hadn’t seen either of the support bands before, but they both earned a new fan this evening because they were both stellar.

Taking Back Sunday are a band of world-class performers that manage to disguise themselves perfectly as humble, grounded, and hilarious people. The quintet walked on stage in their matching red suits to find that their click tracks weren’t coming through their in-ear monitors. Rather than letting that halt the show, frontman Adam Lazzara simply said, “fuck it, let’s go” and the band proceeded to launch into the absolute classic ‘What’s It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?’ in marvellous fashion. Drummer Mark O’Connell made it very clear that the band didn’t need the click track to sound perfectly locked in from the get-go. As I said above, I’ve seen this band well over a dozen times now and I have to say that this was the best I’ve heard Adam sound in years. He’s a frontman that just oozes cool, is painlessly hilarious and makes the whole crowd feel like he’s their best friend. As the set progressed and the band were still facing issues with their playback rig, Adam engaged in a plethora of chats with the crowd that provided some much-needed levity in the face of a situation that could potentially ruin a show for any other band. Kudos to the band for taking it in their stride and just having a great time despite the technical issues they had to deal with.

All of the staples were on show. Early classics like ‘A Decade Under The Influence’, ‘Set Phasers To Stun’, ‘Cute Without The E’, and ‘You’re So Last Summer’ had the crowd singing along at record volume. ‘Liar (It Takes One To Know One)’ always gets people moving with its breakneck pace and blistering drum fills from O’Connell. A crowd request for ‘Timberwolves At New Jersey’ saw the band flawlessly perform the song on a whim even though it wasn’t on the setlist, which was mighty impressive and unexpected.

Admittedly, I haven’t really had much of a chance to get around TBS’s latest album 152, simply because there has been a tonne of great releases this year and it simply fell by the wayside on my end. Seeing tracks like ‘S’Old’, ‘The One’ and ‘Lightbringer’ live was more than enough for me to be sold (ha) on the album. The set managed to balance some great offerings from the new album strewn amongst a tonne of classics and more recent cuts like ‘Tidal Wave’ and ‘You Can’t Look Back’.

We all saw it coming, but the band closed out their 70 minute long set with the monstrous hit ‘MakeDamnSure’ and the entire venue erupted with joy. There’s no need for an encore
when you close out your set with a banger like that, not to say I wouldn’t have enjoyed
another track or two.

With eight albums in their catalogue now, it would be hard to whittle down a setlist that covers all bases in the space of an hour plus set. With that said, I was saddened to hear the band completely gloss over the middle of their discography. It’s such a shame that they essentially don’t acknowledge New Again at all these days when it features some of their strongest work. With that said, the band truly are world class and I’ve never walked away from a Taking Back Sunday show anything less than elated. I’m so glad that they’re still going, still creating great music and still having the best time bringing it to life on stage.

Review by Nicholas Simonsen @blackechomusic