Taking Back Sunday, Acceptance, Endless Heights @ The Gov, Adelaide 22/3/2017
Taking Back Sunday hit Adelaide for one big night at The Gov to commemorate the release of their seventh album Tidal Wave. Adelaide was on the tail end of the tour and along for the ride were Acceptance and Endless Heights making for a solid triple bill. Sydney rockers Endless Heights opened proceedings and showed plenty of promise giving their latest EP Teach You How To Leave a good airing as well as their hits from New Bloom.
The real surprise packet on the night was Seattle rock outfit Acceptance who made quite an impression revving the crowd up for Taking Back Sunday. Quite surprising that the band has two albums to their credit Phantoms and Colliding By Design released nearly ten years apart after going on hiatus then reuniting in 2015. Big choruses, catchy melodies and all the big singles were there including Take Cover. The majority of the set was a glimpse of the now playing mostly songs from 2017s Colliding By Design rather than looking backwards. No doubt Acceptance will be back for their own Australian tour.
Taking Back Sunday were not as big a crowd puller as what I thought they would be. Having big followings during the Soundwave years it is a clear case that their fans have moved on. Nevertheless, it was a loyal die hard contingent of fans that sung, danced and jumped all around down front during their ninety minute set. For me personally, I thought the set was a tad pedestrian which wasn’t helped by the muddy sound mix, dark lighting making it hard to stay interested and combined with an early seven a.m. flight the band looked a little worse for wear. It was incredibly, difficult trying to decipher what front man Adam Lazzara was saying between songs let alone what he was singing.
Tidal Wave opener and set opener Death Wolf got things rocking along and the fans were literally hanging off every word sung by Lazzara. A lot of people go on about his on stage charm and stage presence with constant swinging around of the microphone… seen it all before but done a hell of a lot better. The onstage banter between Lazzara and lead guitarist John Nolan was lost on me as I couldn’t understand a word of it. Maybe being in a fish bowl full of water is a close comparison.
All the songs that a fan would be expecting were there including the likes of Liar (It Takes One To Know One), MakeDamnSure, What It Feels Like To Be A Ghost, A Decade Under The Influence and Stood A Chance. There was no encore killing off that rock cliché playing an extra song rather than dicking about backstage working out what to play. I’m sure this one was given the thumbs up by the fans but I was expecting a lot more from this band that have been around for quite a while.
Review by Rob Lyon