Taking Back Sunday Took Us Back To 2002 For Night 1 At First Ave

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If you would have asked 16 year old me what my dream evening would consist of, I guarantee I would have said “going to a Taking Back Sunday concert.” Thankfully, in the past decade my musical tastes haven’t wavered too much and last night’s TBS concert was the perfect way to spend a too-chilly-for-Spring Saturday night. 

If you’ve been out of the loop for years now, Taking Back Sunday has been huge on the music scene for 20 years now, an accomplishment that they began celebrating with Minneapolis last night, and will continue tonight at First Ave! Growing up going to Warped Tour, with new bands always coming and going on the lineups, they always seemed to be the staple that held it all together. They also seemed to be one of those bands that you had to tell everyone you liked. It was you and TBS against the world once you became a big fan… so walking into First Avenue to support them after 20 years felt extra special. 

The line outside of First Avenue was one of the longest I’ve ever seen. After about 30 minutes of waiting, I got indoors and made a bee-line for the merch table, as I almost always do. I felt like a kid in a candy store and immediately pulled up my bank app, just to see how much I could let myself spend. 

Brand new beanie and t-shirt in hand, I stepped back and scanned the crowd. I wasn’t at all surprised with what I saw. Everyone seemed to be in their mid 20s to 40s, and they all had cool ass band tees on and a PBR or a Surly in their hand. I took a deep sigh and, as cliche as it sounds, felt at home. The energy in the room is what Warped Tour felt like years ago when I was a young teen, and what I always wished it would have felt like since then. 

Being a solo attendee, I had a pretty easy time weaving my way through the crowd on the floor to find a good spot right in the middle. I was ready to move with the crowd to “Tell All Your Friends,” and whatever else the coin-flip decided they would play. 

Opening up the show was “The Maine,” another classic band of my youth. I’ve seen them perform countless times, all throughout high school I’d see them every time they came through town, which was at least once per year. Seeing them on stage brought me back to the “good old days.” I sang along to each and every song they played, with the entire rest of the crowd as my backup singers. As their set ended, I felt a little ping of sadness followed by excitement when I realized that meant Taking Back Sunday was up next. 

After some waiting and chit chatting with the people packed so closely around me, the lights finally dimmed again. As promised, they jumped right in to “Tell All Your Friends,” their debut album from 2002. As expected, I wasn’t the only one who knew every single word to every single song. As they blew through the album, I made a point to look around me. Everyone was so in the moment, it was comforting to know that every single person around me was having the time of their life, too. 

They flipped a coin to decide if they were going to play their 2nd album, “Where You Want To Be,” or their 3rd album, “Louder Now,” next… and “Where You Want To Be” won! I was pleased with the results, and so was the rest of the crowd. The second set flew by, with some much appreciated banter coming from the stage. As the set ended, things didn’t feel as final as they may have otherwise, because night two is coming tonight! 

I made a second stop at the merch table on the way out and dropped another $50 bucks on a hoodie. I left feeling nostalgic, satisfied, and looking up ticket prices for tonight’s show. You can try to pick up some tickets here! 

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