Taking Back Sunday surged Rhode Island crowd with a near 20-song set. The quintuplet out of Long Island, NY, hit Providence, RI, at the Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel as part of their spring tour. The alternative rock group has been touring with The Used, Tonight Alive, and Sleepway (led by former Underoath frontman, Spencer Chamberlain) since mid-March following the release of their sixth studio album, Happiness Is.
Taking Back Sunday entered the dark stage of the Lupo’s as multicolored lights randomly struck the audience. They opened with the new, stringy preface from their newest album, Happiness Is. It gave such a pristine ambient pulse on which the crowd gorged. This was right before the preface lead to track three on the new record, “Stood A Chance.” From this point on, nothing could be done to stop the constant swaying and moshing of the audience as Taking Back Sunday continued rocking the show.
It seems TBS fans will never fully be able to expect what changing style and feel the next new album will possess. Happiness Is however, would be the result of mashing all of the other previous albums into an alternative rock stew; the creation being a very mature, poignant record riddled with hints of TBS’s roots and a poppy new seasoning.
Frontman Adam Lazzara has matured so much over 12 years that has seen a rotation of various band mates throughout TBS’s existence. Since the original line up got back together in 2011, the band has released two albums: their self-titled fifth album, and the brand new Happiness Is, both of which sound completely different from each other. At the show, Lazzara belted out tracks from both. Delighted fans sang along to classic TBS hits such as “A Decade Under the Influence,” and “Cute Without the E (Cut From the Team).”
This was my third time seeing them in the past four years, and what stood out the most about this show was how personable Lazzara, as well as his co-singer John Nolan, were to the audience. It was just a nice touch to hear Lazzara explain personal stories associated with both their old and newer tracks. The crowd was super responsive too. Towards the end of their set, Lazzara announced that they were going to skip the stereotypical “band walks out – crowd chants one more song” routine, and just play as many songs as they felt like. This was great as TBS splurged on us with a 19-song set!
Drenched in sweat and absolutely satisfied, I walked away from the concert pining to see Taking Back Sunday all over again.
