Images: Taking Back Sunday, letlive., The Menzingers February 24, 2015 at the House of Blues

As Taking Back Sunday took the stage on Tuesday night, the sold-out floor of the House of Blues began to feel really sold-out. Whether you consider Taking Back Sunday emo, or maybe punk or just straight rock, the lasting appeal of the band is the emotive lyrics and vocal performance from frontman Adam Lazzara, and on this night, everyone was ready for some group catharsis.

The last time I caught TBS it was the 2012 10 year Tell All Your Friends anniversary gig. So what’s different now? Well, the reunited TAYF lineup has a few more years under their belt, meaning the live show is extremely tight. Bassist Shaun Cooper especially stood out at this show, with his rhythm dictating a collective bounce in everyone’s step. Lazzara’s vocals also sounded much cleaner than at that last show (maybe because we got the tour towards the beginning of its run, so he wasn’t nearly as road-worn). And he’s also still a MIC swinging machine, though he did let it fly out of site during one rather intricate move, the crowd more than ready to take over lead vocal duties while the stage crew frantically searched out the rogue microphone.

The band’s high energy was reflected in the crowd, who were eager to continue belting out every word as the band played favorites “What’s It Feel Like to Be a Ghost?,” “Number Five with a Bullet” and “A Decade Under the Influence.” Playing in front of a cool LED light display and a layer of fog ripped straight from a Rob Liefeld comic, the whole setup gave off a huge rock star vibe and was incredibly interesting visually. And this show was a celebration, not just of guitarist John Nolan, who turned 37 that night, but also of the band’s latest release Happiness Is: The Complete Recordings, an expanded version of 2014’s Happiness Is. So Happiness tracks including set opener “Flicker Fade” and my favorite “Stood a Chance,” the band’s fantastic attempt at a straight forward pop punk song, were played alongside Complete Collection exclusive “How I Met Your Mother,” a more rock and roll influenced track.

But it was the older songs that received biggest reaction, with people losing their minds during “Cute Without the E,” “You Know How I Do” and “Timberwolves at New Jersey.” I recently read that Taking Back Sunday don’t really like TAYF, but the crowd clearly doesn’t share that sentiment, and neither do I. And hearing those songs live, with a choir of a few thousand people, is absolutely the best way to experience them.

Playing in the penultimate spot on this tour is LA’s letlive., a band who has found themselves in the extremely enviable position of opening for The Used, opening for Taking Back Sunday, opening for Taking Back Sunday and The Used, opening for the Used again, and now cycling back to Taking Back Sunday. And why wouldn’t those two try and share letlive. like Marvel writers vying for who gets Wolverine to star in their books? The band is extremely on point, though a little outside of my wheelhouse, and I’ll never miss a chance to see them live because frontman Jason Aalon Butler is one of the most dynamic performers out there, literally giving blood during sets as he thrashes around.

While the band powered through brash tracks like “The Dope Beat,” “Pheromone Cvlt,” and “Dreamer’s Disease,” Butler rolled around the stage like Marty McFly playing “Johnny B Goode,” found himself tangled up in the curtain, and walked across the thin rail separating the House of Blues’ bottom and middle levels like he was Philippe Petit before throwing himself atop the welcoming arms of the crowd. It was great watching the room’s reaction slowly change from “what is this, why are they so abrasive?” to “hell yeah! This rules” and incite a slightly awkward circle-pit-meets-push-mosh through the last two songs.

Opening this show was a band I love more than Leslie Knope loves Lil Sebastian, The Menzingers. I haven’t seen them since the release of Rented World last year so it was nice to hear so many of those songs live, especially personal favorite “My Friend Kyle.” The crowd was much more receptive this time around, compared to their last Vegas show at the same venue with another TBS (The Bouncing Souls) in 2012. There were actually more people than just me singing along, with a large pocket of people leaping over each other for a chance to get just a few inches closer to the microphone during “The Obituaries,” the refrain of “I will fuck this up, I fucking know it!” echoing to the back of the venue, up the stairs and out to the casino floor.

“I Was Born” from sophomore release Chamberlin Waits and “In Remission” from Rented World received equally big reactions, the latter’s “If everyone needs a crutch then I need a wheelchair” refrain resulting in another huge sing-along. I was a little bummed that A Lesson in the Abuse of Information Technology and especially Hold On Dodge were completely ignored, but hopefully the extremely warm reception enjoyed by the band will finally allow them to forgive us for the no-attended matinee gig at East Side Joe’s a few years ago and we’ll finally get another headlining Menzy’s gig before long. If the huge smiles adorning their faces throughout the set is any indication, I think we’ll see them again soon.

-Emily Matview

Photos by Tylor Thuirer | https://www.flickr.com/photos/thuirermedia/