Reviewed on 7th August 2009.

Taking Back Sunday

Live at Leeds Metropolitan University on Sunday, 2nd August 2009

Gigs for nostalgia's sake always seem to get me slightly more excited than gigs for bands I currently like or am interested in. The chance to see a band I wanted to see about 5 years but never did is one I'm always willing to take, even if I'm not that fussed about the band themselves these days. Taking Back Sunday's Tell All Your Friends is still a classic in my books, though they haven't produced much since, bar the odd good single. Saying that, I was perfectly willing to put up the £14 for this gig simply on the basis they'd play songs I used to play over and over again when I was 14/15, the likes of 'Bike Scene' and 'Cute Without The 'E'". Saying all this, the bands latest record New Again, whilst being nowhere near where they started out musically, has enough good poppy-punk tunes on it for me not to get irritated when they play them.

Taking Back Sunday take to the stage at about half 9, and kick straight into 'What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?'. Good start. The rest of the set contains the majority of the singles, the likes of 'You're So Last Summer' and 'Liar (It Takes One To Know One)', as well as 5 or 6 from New Again. The music follows the prediction I'd already made, the old stuff is good, if not quiet as edgy and it may have been a few years ago, and the new stuff is decent enough poppy-punk, but nothing that really draws me, or the majority of the rest of the crowd, in. 'Cute Without The 'E'' is an inevitable highlight, as is set closer 'MakeDamnSure', but that is where the highlights end. Literally.

When, at about 10.20pm, frontman Adam Lazzara announces MakeDamnSure will be the bands final song, the crowd obviously assumes it will not be, as per usual at any gig for a band with more than 10 or so songs. However, for once, it is actually their last song, there is no encore. 50 minutes and done. As far as I'm concerned, if you are a band that rarely tours the UK, with 4 albums, one of which is regard by a generation of "emo-kids" as one of the essential albums of the decade, 50 minutes is unacceptable, even more so when the band don't even play all their singles.

TBS wouldn't like it given the apparent feuds and competition between the bands over the years, but I'll draw comparisons with Brand New. Around about a month ago, they played nearly twice as long at a gig in Manchester, and their 4th album isn't out till September. Given the two bands started on the same record label, making the same hard hitting punk rock, it's interesting to see that whilst Brand New have flourished into a fully fledged, utterly brilliant rock band, TBS have evolved into a mediocre pop punk band who clearly care little for those who make the effort to come and see them despite their latest offering being weak in comparison to the classics. Fuck you Taking Back Sunday, I'll have my £14 back please.