For those who were eager to experience Taking Back Sunday in their fullest (and perhaps fiercest) form, last night’s Boston stop on Rockstar Energy Drink’s Taste of Chaos tour provided the perfect platform to absorb a band that has been around for 15 years–yet still possess an impassioned earnestness. As all five original members riled up to play their hearts out for a packed Blue Hills Bank Pavilion audience that was high off residual nostalgia, the boys proved that they are past the point in their career of turning naysayers into spectators. In fact, they were consumed with wielding their unmitigated staying power.
From the very start of their set, frontman Adam Lazzara had no problem acknowledging Taste of Chaos for what it is: a serious throwback. “If you came out to the show for nostalgic purposes–ain’t nothing wrong with that!” he emphatically stated after blasting through cathartic, pulsating anthems like “Cute Without the ‘E”,”A Decade Under the Influence,” and “You’re So Last Summer.” Throughout their set, Lazzara’s well-worn textured voice deftly navigated through a range of styles–styles which turned out to be a tremendous nod to Taking Back Sunday’s steely growth.
Despite their all too brief set (which rounded out to 13 songs), Taking Back Sunday floated through the evening and played new material (“Tidal Wave”) with the same type of enthusiasm as they would for tracks from their debut record (“Timberwolves at New Jersey”). Toward the very end of their performance, Lazzara loosened up enough to stop calling us ladies and gentlemen (although he did so with a preachy inflection) to let us know that even though Boston was day ten of the Taste of Chaos tour, it was the best crowd so far. “You’re animals,” he playfully commented. “And I say that in the best kind of way.”