Taking Back Sunday/From Autumn To Ashes

live in Milwaukee (2003)

I had been looking forward to this show for quite a while, as this one was obviously a big deal. Taking Back Sunday has enjoyed enormous popularity of late, and it seems like every other kid you pass on the street can quote their lyrics verbatim. Not surprisingly, the show sold out.

As we walked into the venue, a large room on the top floor of a restaurant, our first thought was that it was decorated to look like it was run-down and falling apart. There were even fake cobwebs hung up. It was a good atmosphere for a show, though.
One of my friends and I went to the merch booths to look at t-shirts, and we ran into three members of From Autumn to Ashes and talked to them for a while. Very nice guys… that made me even more excited for their set.

The first band, My Chemical Romance, took the stage, looking like a stereotypical emo band. The difference came in their sound. They are a blend of punk, melodic rock, and hardcore. These styles together create a band that is awesome to listen to, and they had a lot of stage energy too. Overall, they put on a great show with a lot of presence and crowd response. Go see them, and buy the CD if you ever find it in a store.

Next up was Recover. I had seen them once before, and they had impressed me, but not amazed me. The same thing happened again at this show. Recover is a solid hardcore/rock band, but their sound and live show just isn't anything amazing. If you're a Recover fan now, then, go see them live, you'll have fun. But they aren't a show-stealing opening band.

Then came From Autumn to Ashes, a band I was very excited to see. They stepped out on stage with a huge jet-black and blood-red banner, and launched into a set that was one of the best I've seen. Great sound, a decent amount of energy, and an overall product that I think impressed pretty much everyone in the venue. If you consider yourself a fan of hardcore and you have not heard them, don't wait any longer. Check them out. The crowd was very much into their set, including their last song, the 10-minute hardcore masterpiece "Short Stories With Tragic Endings". They put on a great show.

Finally, Taking Back Sunday came on. The band everyone had been waiting for. They launched right into "Bike Scene," and the show rarely dragged, stopping only for the singer to praise the security, insult the venue manager, and yell at a guy who shouted "You suck!" Did they play well? Yes. Were they energetic? Well, the singer was. But they just didn't blow me away. They were good, but not great. I'm sure they wowed their most devoted fans, but I wasn't amazed. Solid, but, if you missed them, you didn't miss that much.

Overall, this was a good show. My Chemical Romance and From Autumn To Ashes both put on awesome sets that I enjoyed a lot. Recover and TBS were both OK, but they could have done a lot better, in my opinion. If this show had just been MCR and FATA, I would have given it five stars. But with the other two bands included, I have to give it a 4.