PHOENIX — The Rockstar Energy Drink Taste of Chaos Tour landed in the Comerica Theatre on Thursday July 14, bringing with it a night of nostalgia for Phoenix’s 30-somethings.
The show opened with performances from The Early November and SAOSIN and concluded with headliners Taking Back Sunday and Dashboard Confessional.
SAOSIN lead vocalist Anthony Green could hardly contain his enthusiasm between songs. “We’re SAOSIN and we came here to fucking dance!” Green told fans at the beginning of the set. Later, he said that in his youth, going to a concert like this was the one place where he felt like he could truly let go, be himself, and not care about how others saw him and encouraged the audience to do the same.
SAOSIN’s set included songs from their new album, Along the Shadow, which was released on May 20. It was their first studio album since releasing In Search of Solid Ground in 2009. The new album features vocals from Green, who returned to SAOSIN in 2014, nearly a decade after his 2004 departure.
By the time Taking Back Sunday took the stage, Comerica Theatre was packed with fans excited to hear the music of their youth. The group opened with “Cute Without the ‘E’ (Cut from the Team),” “Liar (It Takes One to Know One),” and “Flicker, Fade.” Their set also included other favorites from their hit albums Tell All Your Friends, Louder Now, and Happiness Is, including “A Decade Under the Influence,” “You’re So Last Summer,” and “Timberwolves at New Jersey.”
Taking Back Sunday played in front of the backdrop of an American flag, with an impressively colorful light show. Between songs, lead vocalist Adam Lazzara said that Rockstar Energy Drink was paying him $30 every time he said “Rockstar Energy Drink Taste of Chaos Tour” and joked that he would be saying it as many times as he could (and he did).
“I understand a lot of you are here tonight for nostalgic purposes, and that’s okay. People say ridiculous things like, ‘my 16-year-old self’ or ‘my 18-year-old self’. Is that not still a part of yourself that you are today?” Lazzara asked concert-goers. “I was there when you got your driver’s license. I was there when you were exploring your bodies in the back of your dad’s car” he continued, “I was there when you went to college or when you didn’t go to college,” Lazzara said. And Taking Back Sunday is still here today.
Later, Lazzara introduced the audience to “Holy Water” from the band’s upcoming album, Tidal Wave, due to hit record stores later this year on September 16. They played the song “Tidal Wave” as well. “I’m just killing time because I don’t want the night to be over,” Lazzara confessed toward the end of the set. “Let’s go out with a bang,” he said before finishing the performance with “MakeDamnSure.”
Dashboard Confessional, the final headliner, opened their set with “Vindicated,” “The Sharp Hint of New Tears,” and “The Good Fight.” They had an equally impressive light show and stage display, which included footage projected onto a large screen above the stage. By request, front man Chris Carrabba also played “The Moon Is Down,” a song by Further Is Forever, another band he performs vocals for.
Carrabba was impressed with the “soft and sweet” singing of concert-goers. “Phoenix, can we sing this one together?” he asked as the group began to play “Remember to Breathe.” “You guys sing beautifully,” he told the audience. Later in the show, he asked fans to sing the chorus of his new song “Heart Beat Here,” because he wanted to see how it would sound recorded with the crowd singing along.
“I’m really proud of the records we’ve made, but I genuinely like the old shit better,” Carrabba said at one point. Dashboard Confessional’s set also included “The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most,” from the album of the same name, “Am I Missing,” “Don’t Wait,” “The Best Deceptions,” and “Screaming Infidelities.” Carrabba also covered “Fix You” by Coldplay before wrapping up with “Stolen” from Dusk and Summer.
When Carrabba returned to the stage for Dashboard Confessional’s encore performance, he had one last message he wanted to impart to concert-goers. “I just want to point out one thing. All lives matter. Things have gotten crazy out of hand,” he continued “There isn’t a color of life that doesn’t matter. It’s all fantastic. It’s all beautiful. So can we all just try to take care of each other?” With that, Carrabba closed out the show on a high note, with “Hands Down,” a song about “the best day of his life.”
PHOTO ALBUM by Katherine Vega
(Click images above for separate band albums with additional photos.)
Taste of Chaos – Comerica Theatre 7-14-16
Photography © Katherine Amy Vega, Kataklizmic Design
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