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The thing you’ve got to love about the hardcore kids is that they’re willing to start early - 4.30pm on Saturday afternoon there’s already a queue of about 1,000. So by the time Saosin hit the stage just over an hour later there’s a small but welcoming audience swarming in front of the stage. And the Orange County quintet are decent enough.
Senses Fail however, despite the odd flash to suggest otherwise like ‘Shark Attack’, are just another dime-a-dozen, cookie cutter American (heavier side of) emo band. They’re not bad, but they’re not offering anything new or exciting either. This is simply emphasised by Underoath’s raw offering which is pure screamo quality. Having left the USA’s Warped Tour early over the summer due to tensions within the band, for a while it looked a bit uncertain as to whether Underoath would make it over to the British shores for the UK leg of Taste Of Chaos but thankfully they did and the heaviest band of the night give every ounce of what they’ve got. And it’s worth sweating it out in Brixton just to see Chris Dudley (keyboard/synthesizer) convulse like he’s just stuck his finger in a socket during stand-out tracks ‘In Regards To Myself’, ‘It’s Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door’, ‘A Boy Brushed Red Living In Black And White’.
Best band of the night by far though are Alexisonfire. Lead vocalist George Pettit is wearing his trademark shorts and ‘Boiled Frogs’, ‘44.Caliber Love Letter’ and ‘Accidents’ are so energetic, abrasive and ferocious Brixton is left wetting itself in anticipation for their return in February. Anti Flag have been doing political punk rock since long before Green Day brought us ‘American Idiot’ and ‘This Is The End (For You My Friend)’, ‘Turncoat’, ‘You’ve Got To Die For The Government’ get the crowd flicking peace signs and clapping well enough – even if the catalyst maybe the beer rather than the political sentiment.
But when Taking Back Sunday’s Adam Lazarra takes to the stage with just a guitar and harmonica for company it’s not the band’s usual frenetic entrance. After a well executed ‘Divine Intervention’ Lazarra explains that guitarist and dual-vocalist Fred has had to leave Taste Of Chaos tour for “family reasons” and that members of Saosin, Senses Fail and Underoath will be helping out. It’s not what we were expecting but it could make for interesting viewing. What happens next however is just baffling, instead of just getting straight on with Taking Back Sunday karaoke, Lazarra performs an acoustic version of The Killers’ ‘When You Were Young’ and Brixton’s left frowning in bemusement.
Despite the curious start, ‘What’s It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?’ and ‘One Eighty By Summer’ offer some hope that this little arrangement of guest vocals and guitar is going to work but Lazarra seems intent on 10 minutes of chat in between each song announcing who’s up next and ‘Ladies and gentlemen this’ and ‘Ladies and gentlemen that’ and what could have been something really quite special turns into something really quite simple: Too. Much. Talk. Not. Enough. Play. Sure tracks like ‘You’re So Last Summer’, ‘Cute Without The ‘E’’ and ‘A Decade Under The Influence’ are so anthemic they’re still carried by the singing crowd - but even they don’t have their usual sparkle simply because the set was so fragmented.
Well done for putting on a brave face Taking Back Sunday, but the gold star of the night goes to Alexisonfire who were er… on fire.
