A Festival Too Soon?
Since their last Reading appearance Taking Back Sunday have seen one vocalist/guitarist leave to form his own band only to be quickly replaced by another. Now with a new line up the New York quintet are back to prove that things haven’t really changed. The problem is as they take to the main stage with a somewhat subdued manner, you can’t help but think things have changed and not necessarily for the better.
Suffering from bad sound that seems to muffle and drums and bass whilst obliterating any hope of hearing the guitars, it’s left to frontman Adam Lazzara’s to lead the charge, a job he appears reluctant to do today. Spinning his microphone wire like a windmill as he prances around the stage, Lazzara’s vocal are just strong enough to punch through the sound problems, allowing you to recognise what track the band are actually playing. ‘Liar’ breezes by with some of its old infectious enthusiasm that finds a home in various pockets of the crowd but refuses to any more than get some heads nodding. ‘Cute Without The E’ goes someway to inject some life into the set but when the first ripples of ‘MakeDamnSure’ come out muffled, its clear that this is not the same band that sparkled at Reading a few years back. Perhaps given time TBS can recapture the magic they had with former guitarist Fred Mascherino, sadly though Reading festival this year has come too soon.