Taking Back Sunday Band • Page 573

This band has seriously had so many "I can't believe this is happening" moments over the years – both good and bad! This is another one of them.

Adam, Fred, John, Shaun ... give it to me.

 

i adore this band and have always skipped them live because of uh everything i have heard about them in the past...but now i am stoked as hell about the idea of seeing them live and have to do it lfg thank you fred

 

Nathan is a seriously good singer

 

I wanted to digest seeing them before I commented on this, and I'm going to have to push back on this idea because 1) now we know that John was likely playing through a crazy amount of pain for at least a couple of years, so it makes sense that maybe he wasn't as mobile throughout the set, and 2) while maybe Fred is a better "showman," I don't think John needs to be. John is great because he and Adam have a really natural back-and-forth, and they play off each other with their banter (even for the times when they're not closing out a show like this). I actually found Fred's constant moving around to be a bit unnecessary. I noticed that because he was moving around a lot, it cut into Adam's movements/mic swinging ability, and I think Fred is very lucky that Adam was more aware of where he was than Fred was of Adam. (I also think when it comes to the solos that Fred is doing, Nathan was the one playing them—I know this to be true of the one in Liar at least—and Nathan is incredible.)

I think Fred also sounds technically good (and technically better, sure), but after seeing them as Adam + John for over a decade, even the songs that Fred is on the record for in my mind sound better as John songs. John has a much different delivery with a lot of the lyrics that add a bit of personality to them, whereas Fred is more or less just trying to recreate how it sounds on the record (which is, again, technically good, but if I wanted to hear the record, I would just put on the record). I noticed this in particular during Decade, Flicker, Fade, and Cute Without the E (where John really goes for the scream on the "never let you hold me back").

To each their own at the end of the day, and I am glad that they were able to work together to find a solution that made this tour work so John could focus on getting better, but I will be glad to have John back in the future and Fred being an occasional surprise if their paths cross.

 

Or we could just all get a win and have John and Fred.

 

I've always loved how John and Adam bounce off each other, they just seem like the bestest friends

 

To your first point, I know people (myself included) have wondered why John’s singing also hasn’t been great over the last couple of years, and this could explain why. Yeah your throat/vocal cords could get strained after a while and humid environments sure don’t help, but if you’re not fully able to engage your core, back muscles/spine and/or neck to sing (especially higher notes), you’re fucked.

 

On the TBS subreddit, someone asked what Fazzi era and post-reunion era songs they’d like to hear them play with Fred, these were my picks:

Summer, Man or Swing
All the Way, Beat Up Car or Better Homes & Gardens
In the Middle of it All or Call Come Running
New Music Friday

I also forgot to add Lightbringer in there which would also rule.

 

Also, just doing anything in any amount of pain is already difficult. We noticed the guitar strap switching shoulders about a year and half/two years ago? I imagine that the pain itself probably started before he started attempting to make adjustments to account for it, too.

 

Yeah I was going to say something about the singing too, I know when I try to sing like really sing and my whole self into it, it takes a lot of back and neck and chest straining/muscle flexing, can't imagine that's easy to do with that injury

 

I’m someone who likes “The One” a fair amount, so that’d be fun. Very prominent John bit there that’d be cool with Fred.

Also, I’ve said this before, but “Carpathia” is one I’d love to see with any line-up. Honestly, what I really wanna see is the hypothetical line-up of both John and Fred we talk about so it; since neither of them are connected to it, they could really split some of those layered vocals across all three guys in an interesting way.

 

I have it on good authority* that John’s surgery went well and he might be back at home recovering now

*=we had VIP tickets to tonight’s Philly show so I asked Adam and Shaun if they had any news and if it went well. Adam said he had some pain at first but was doing much better and probably heading home today. So great news there. Shaun told us one of the guys in Bayside apparently had the same surgery haha

I unfortunately bought the tickets before I had my fall semester schedule for my masters classes so I pretty much had to leave immediately after the meet and greet and am missing the show . My wife stayed at the show with her friend who is also a big TBS fan so at least they’re getting to see Fred. This woulda been my first time seeing Fred TBS and my first time seeing Coheed boo

 

I’m currently seeing the Nine Inch Nails show in Philly, which is great so far, but I kinda wish I was seeing TBS and Coheed. On the upside, I met Pat Finnerty at this show so its all good.

 

No way, that's sick. Glad his L4 is doing alright so he could go!

 

Dude was every bit as cool and engaging as his videos let on. Viva la Pat.

 

Yeah, Jack did, and if I remember correctly, his recovery went quickly/well, so hoping this is true for John as well. Glad to hear that it went well! Thank you for sharing the update.

 

Based on pics/videos it looks like PNC was packed to the gills last night. Place holds 19,000 people, pretty wild!

 

I think it's a funny coincidence that both Coheed and My Chem did a cover song last night with a guest with lyrics mentioning a cage.

 

Way bigger crowd/better energy than the same co-headlining tour there back in 2018.

What was a really weird coincidence was that earlier that day I realized my last time seeing Adam and Fred together was at the same venue 18 years prior to the day at Projekt Revolution. Thank you, Concert Archives.

 

It's wild seeing any other fanbase talk about Adam, how many people say he's on drugs. Irresponsible

 

That says more about them than him. Hope there are people pushing back because it's so tired.

 

They're sounding so good. Proud of the boys. Great show tonight

 

Apparently Miami got played tonight. Not as bad of a song as its reputation has given it.

 

Goddamn me!