Taking Back Sunday, Recover, Breaking Pangaea - Irving Plaza, NYC 03.25.03
Posted by Eric Katz on 03.27.2003
The reason you “tell all your friends”
So Tuesday night I went and saw one of my favorites right now, that being Taking Back Sunday. They were playing at the famed Irving Plaza with Breaking Pangaea and Recover. Me and my friend Ben got there around 7, and we stood on-line for an hour before they let us in. The show started around 9.
First, a word about Irving Plaza itself. For those who haven’t been there, it’s probably a dream indie venue. It’s a small club that can probably fit, oh I’d say 500 people at the most. It’s well known, very credible, and pretty easy to get to. They also played this weird video between sets that showed people moving at high speeds and baby chickens being processed for something (I’m serious too).
So Breaking Pangaea kicked us off. I had listened to a few songs of theirs before-hand but this is the first time I’ve seen them live. I was expecting a melodic hardcore band but I was very wrong about them. They were indie rock that I guess you could say has some hardcore roots. One thing I loved about their performance is their bassist. Breaking Pangaea may be a three-piece but they FILL the stage. The bassist was all over the place and he even twirled his bass around a few times, which is a lot easier to do with a guitar than a bass. On a whole they were kind of catchy and a nice way to start us off. I liked them more or less, but they’re not too special or noteworthy.
Next was Recover. Recover started things off pretty hardcore and kept it that way for awhile. I didn’t really like what they were playing until the middle of their set, which I think was the older stuff. What I’m assuming is the newer stuff is a little too hardcore for me. Also, the “mosh pit” was really annoying here because only about 5 people really cared about them but it was an inconvenience most people. Overall Recover wasn’t that great. The best part was definitely when Adam from TBS came out and started singing a chorus line with them. That was cool. And they started talking about how one dude was punched in the face by a stranger on tour . . . weird I guess.
Then the whole crowd just became scrunched together in anticipation for TBS. We waited for about 20 minutes and then the guitars started and the place went crazy. Adam said something and then they went right into “Bike Scene”. The place just erupted, the whole crowd was moving for them. During the quiet part Adam started talking to the audience, which started the trend that he followed the whole night. He came off as really appreciative to the fans of NYC, saying that we had made them and he was alive because we were here to cheer them on. Right after Bike Scene they went into Timberwolves at New Jersey.
They played two new songs, and I remember one was called Fourty-One. I think Adam said the song was about his struggle to recover after his accident last year when he broke his hip. The songs were ok but it was hard to get a good feel of them in the crowd. They also played Your Own Disaster, which was a big surprise. At the beginning of the set I saw a keyboard next to the stage and wondered what they’d be using it for. I figured a new song had keys. No, it looks like the boys wanted to bring out Your Own Disaster (which is the only song from their 5 song demo that didn’t get onto Tell All Your Friends). The song is what you’d call their slow song I guess. Their playing it makes me think that they might be bringing the song back for the next cd. They’ve talked talked about re-doing it, because it was originally done with a drum machine.
Adam was also awesome up there. First, when they were fixing Mark’s drum set, he started asking for requests (they said that Ed messed up the set order by playing the wrong guitar into but I dunno if he was joking or not) and someone called out “Summer Stars” which is a song they played when they had a different singer and Adam played bass. Adam’s response was “dude, don’t even joke.” Ha, that was great. Another time Adam went crowd-surfing and afterwards, he says “whoever took my shoe, give it back right now.” He got really pissed off and showed the assholes a lesson in respect. Someone called out “I f*cked your mom”, and Adam’s response was, “I don’t know maybe you have, I haven’t talked to my mom in years. By the way, I hope you fall down the stairs when you leave here.” That was funny, though I don’t know the story about Adam and his mom or if it was a joke or not (I wasn’t aware of a story there).
The guys really did play all of their songs (even the Ballad of Sal Villaneuva), EXCEPT for one. I was actually surprised about this, but the only song they didn’t play, unless I missed it (which is hard because I never left the floor) was Head Club. I thought that would’ve been a cool ending but I guess they didn’t want to play it. Eh, that’s a small loss.
The 411: Overall, the show definitely lived up to expectations. The cd is called “Tell All Your Friends” and their show certainly backs up that idea. I’ll be promoting this tour on my column for the next month or two and I strongly recommend anyone in the area they go to check it out.
