I was incredibly excited to be seeing Taking Back Sunday at The Webster in Hartford because it’s such a small venue, and it was no wonder the show was sold out. TBS hasn’t been in this tiny of a place in forever. Everyone who went knew how lucky they were, and the enthusiasm in the room made it almost vibrate with energy. Right before coming on, I spotted Lazzara speaking with his wife and child backstage. It was a sweet moment, and he kissed his wife before stepping onstage and starting.
Opening with “Stood A Chance”, a tune off their latest album, the band immediately jumped into overdrive, every instrument perfect and you could pick out every single sound perfectly, and when Lazzara’s vocals joined, it was a symphony. The band’s always been damn good live, but never this good. His voice was better than ever, and his dance skills were the same as always. John Nolan, lead guitarist, never missed a note and was spot-on, and the fact that every time he plays it’s a flawless performance never ceases to impress me.
The band played “Timberwolves At New Jersey” next, a definite fan favorite. It’s off of their iconic album, “Tell All Your Friends”, and one of the greatest tunes off it. It sounded just like it did on the album, no, even better. The band’s maturity shone through, and it was obvious that even though they’ve been playing these songs for ten years now, they’re not sick of them. In fact, it seemed to be the opposite. “I got the mic and you got the moshpit”, one of TBS’ most famous lyrics, was a highlight of the song, and as a fan, I could barely contain my excitement at this line and couldn’t resist singing along.
A song they haven’t played in a really long time is “Number Five With A Bullet”. The band played it, and the crowd went absolutely insane. “We’re gonna die like this, you know, miserable and old” being the most poignant and popular line, was sung with so much vigor and the crowd participation was through the roof with this song. It was so cool to see pretty much every person in the room singing along, because this is a song that gets a lot of people into the band in the first place. I loved to be a part of that, and being a fan made me really proud and really excited.
The band put on a brilliant set, the perfect mix of old and new songs, and that was so nice to see because it showed that the band doesn’t just want to play all their new stuff. They played at least one song off of every album, and the diversity is what made this show stand out.
Setlist:
Stood A Chance
Timberwolves At New Jersey
Liar
Faith
You Know How I Do
Beat Up Car
Number Five With A Bullet
What’s It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?
A Decade Under The Influence
Better Homes And Gardens
You’re So Last Summer
Error: Operator
Flicker, Fade
Cute Without The ‘E’
MakeDamnSure
