Live Review - Taking Back Sunday

Taking Back Sunday, Frank Iero and the Patience and Muncie Girls @ Rock City, Nottingham 17/02/17

If you don’t think Nottingham’s Rock City is the best venue in the UK, then sadly you are ill informed or haven’t ever been to Rock City. Seeing any band inside the hallowed walls of this Nottingham institute is a pleasure, especially when they come with the pedigree of someone like Taking Back Sunday, who brought with them former My Chemical Romance guitarist Frank Iero with his band The Patience and Exeter trio Muncie Girls. 

If you haven’t seen or listened to Muncie Girls yet, what are you playing at? Go, listen now, so that you can say “I was there”. What Muncie Girls do which is so important, is deliver a message, this isn’t a band playing for the sake of playing songs that mean nothing, this is a band performing songs about socialism, health care and feminism. They rock the stage and the ever increasing crowd flawlessly, this band has authenticity, relevancy and gravitas, they’re going to be the new thing, so jump on this ride before it leaves the station and hold tight.

All the talk of feminism was quiet fitting when it came to Frank Iero’s set, due to a full onslaught of empowered teenage girls throwing themselves into crowd surfing. Something that becomes more apparent is that Frank Iero’s confidence within himself is seemingly growing and growing, the shy and reserved Frank Iero from his first UK solo performances on the Mallory Knox tour has been replaced by a confident and enigmatic front man, just imagine what’ll happen next time around. The sound The Patience make has developed from the former Iero project The Cellabration, this is without a doubt a full on hardcore band and project, with the band even reworking tracks from previous album into something with a little more aggression. Frank tears up the stage and makes love to the crowd, his set was truly captivating, we were all left wanting more. 

Taking Back Sunday are a symbol, icons of our youth and an original rock band for our generation. They were the cool, smooth guys that made girls swoon and guys rock out. Rock with passion, heart and a bite. TBS are still relevant, having released their latest record in 2016, but still whacked out the old favourites for the eager longstanding fans tonight. Honestly though, something was missing for us on this night. The performance all seemed like it was routine, the music felt flat, there was no connection or camaraderie between the guys and the moves all seemed somewhat superficial. Having said that, the crowd still ate up the tunes, and the place was packed front to back.