As more iconic records reach major milestones, Taking Back Sunday is celebrating 20 years of Louder Now with a tour fitting for the occasion. The prolific alt-rockers brought Thrice and Saves the Day on the road for a headlining jaunt that stopped at Arizona Financial Theatre late last week.
Saves the Day and Thrice are both creeping up on nearly three decades of music and both bands are only getting better with age. Saves the Day brought the house down with their opening set, smashing the sound barrier on “Through Being Cool” and “Invader” while the pit warmed up their moshing muscles early on. More fans filed into the room just in time for Thrice’s set and the band gave everything they had to their direct support performance. Thrice is also one of the most consistently stellar bands in live rock music, playing with a vigor that outstrips plenty of their younger counterparts. The band performed 10 carefully selected tracks and the fans shouted along to everything from “The Artist in the Ambulance” to “Stare at the Sun” before cooling their heels to wait for the night’s headliner.
Even Taking Back Sunday looked a little mindboggled that Louder Now is marking 20 years of excellence and they were determined to give the album a proper party. The record was played in full, sprinkled throughout a set that also included favorites like “Tidal Wave” and “You’re So Last Summer”. The fans clearly found therapy screaming along to “Liar (It Takes One to Know One)” and “Flicker, Fade” as bodies flew enthusiastically over the barricade from all corners of the pit. Singer Adam Lazzara showed off his best dance moves, shimmying across the stage and grinning broadly at the fans hanging over the rail in the front row.
It’s certainly been much longer than “A Decade Under the Influence” but Taking Back Sunday hasn’t lost a step- so much so that it seems almost illogical that these songs are now staples at the nostalgia-filled emo night events taking place around the country. The set ended with a massive choir of Arizona fans singing along to “Cute Without the E (Cut From the Team)” and, of course, “MakeDamnSure”, sending the band off to the next stop to continue their anniversary jubilee for one of the scene’s most influential albums.
