Quick take: Taking Back Sunday and Frank Iero and the Future Violents at The Warfield
Taking Back Sunday. Courtesy of the artist. Photo by Ariff Danial.
SAN FRANCISCO — Taking Back Sunday celebrated its 20th anniversary as a band with two shows at The Warfield last weekend. This current tour commemorates the milestone in a very special way, with double stops in almost every city and two albums performed back-to-back each night.
The Long Island rockers kicked off the first part of their set with 2002 landmark debut album, Tell All Your Friends. A coin toss determined the next LP they would perform. On Saturday, it was 2006’s Louder Now. RIFF caught the band on Sunday, during which the band performed its debut record and Where You Want to Be from 2004.
Frontman Adam Lazzara, guitarist-keyboardist John Nolan, drummer Mark O’Connell and bassist Shaun Cooper performed with precision and unparalleled energy—mic swings and gritty riffage fully immersing the crowd into their memorably emotive catalog. The show’s encore also included hit songs “You Can’t Look Back,” “What’s It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?,” “All Ready To Go” and “MakeDamnSure.”
Rounding out the bill perfectly were Frank Iero And The Future Violents, the current project of former My Chemical Romance guitarist Frank Iero. The New Jersey quintet cranked out an electric-shock set of punk rock tuneage.
“World Destroyer” kicked things off with heavy riffage and some stunning scream-singing from Iero (who now takes on lead vocals and guitar), while “Joyriding” took form in a bit of a poppier melody roughened out through fuzzy guitars and punchy drumming.
Frank Iero And The Future Violents also brought out new single “Young and Doomed,” which featured dynamic vocals that demonstrated Iero’s emotive capacities even more. With the entire setlist consisting of cuts from Iero’s solo catalog and his recent endeavors with The Future Violents, its overall high energy made the perfect backdrop for an evening of pure alt-rock.
Taking Back Sunday setlist (according to Setlist.fm)
- You Know How I Do
- Bike Scene
- Cute Without the ‘E’ (Cut from the Team)
- There’s No ‘I’ in Team
- Great Romances of the 20th Century
- Ghost Man on Third
- Timberwolves at New Jersey
- The Blue Channel
- You’re So Last Summer
- Head Club
- Set Phasers to Sun
- Bonus Mosh Pt. II
- A Decade Under the Influence
- This Photograph Is Proof (I Know You Know)
- The Union
- New American Classic
- I Am Fred Astaire
- One-Eighty by Summer
- Number Five with a Bullet
- Little Devotional
- …Slowdance on the Inside
Encore - You Can’t Look Back
- What’s It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?
- All Ready To Go
- MakeDamnSure
Follow photographer Marisela Delgado at Twitter.com/mariseladee and Instagram.com/mariseladee.