Saturday 27/05/06 Taking Back Sunday @ The Academy, Liverpool

Suddenly, everywhere you look, there are guys n gals swanning round in the low slung, skinny fit jeans with obligatory studded belts and unfairly funky hair.  There may well also be the odd spike or stud protruding from some orifice, and undoubtedly there will be backpacks scrawled with band names and patches.

One band name that seems to be rather popular of late is that of US emo rockers, Taking Back Sunday.  Fresh from their US tour with our darlings, The Subways, the cute and catchy gaggle have landed on UK soil to assault our bags, charts and hearts.  Heavy guitars colliding with crashing melodies and angst filled lyrics, tonight's set unravels with as much punch as drunk love.  Opening with the new 'What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?', the floor immediately shakes beneath our Converse clad feet.  New single 'Make Damn Sure' was surely damn good - passionate and catchy, just the way we've grown to love 'em.  Unfeesably small for such a big voice, front man Adam Lazzara went a bit OTT with his little speeches to the crowd in between songs, decalring his love for each and everyone of us.  Well, it's nice to feel appreciated we guess!  He can, however, be forgiven, because as soon as they launched into old skool classics 'You Are So Last Summer' and 'Cute Without The 'E'', they felt to us as comfortable as a well loved pair of shoes.

The energy was buzzing, the decibels cranked up, and many a
sing-a-long opportunity for all.  Their new songs went down just as well as the oldies - especially the likes of Liar, with the kind of drive Jeremy Clarkson would indeed be proud of.  Slightly out of tune in places, but that is easily overlooked when weighed against the sheer entertainment factor of the band, and indeed some of the fan antics.

Photos by: Dave Kent