Taking Back Sunday Shares the Spotlight with Coheed and Cambria at Homecoming Show

It’s been decades now that, Coheed and Cambria has been building its sci-fi narrative through progressive rock, continuing the story at Charlotte’s PNC Music Pavilion on Tuesday night. Just a few songs into the band’s set, a massive inflatable skeleton appeared behind the stage bringing the theatrics up a notch.

The skeleton’s goggles would light up with hearts and different images, enhancing the themes often heard throughout the band’s music: loss, love, revenge and family. Singer Claudio Sanchez often hid behind his massive mop of curly hair as his vocals soared.

The group played a handful of tracks from their latest album, Vaxis – Act III: The Father of Make Believe, while mixing in plenty of earlier fan favorites.

While Coheed was the headliner, Taking Back Sunday garnered just as much attention from the crowd. Though singer Adam Lazzara no longer lives in Charlotte, it still feels like a hometown show every time the band comes back through town.

Lazzara is an outstanding frontman, dancing and whipping his microphone around while utilizing every inch of the stage, including the elevated area at the back.

The band’s final song, “MakeDamnSure,” got the biggest singalong of the night as the crowd was primed and ready for the main event. Hard to believe the track was released nearly 20 years ago … and that Taking Back Sunday has been around for 25.

The show started with a 30-minute set from Missouri indie-rock outfit Foxing. Featuring two singers who provide an aural bounce between falsetto and intense screams, the band took time out to thank those in attendance for listening and paying attention to their set.

Singer Conor Murphy rarely stood still as he paced the stage, crouched, lunged and kept the audience engaged.

The two headliners will continue their North American tour through Sept. 21 before Coheed & Cambria hops the pond in October and Taking Back Sunday joins The Used for more American dates.

Coheed and Cambria setlist
Goodbye, Sunshine
Shoulders
Blood Red Summer
Blind Side Sonny
Everything Evil
Number City
The Suffering
Searching for Tomorrow
The Continuum II: The Flood
A Favor House Atlantic
The Liars Club
In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3

Encore
Corner My Confidence
The Continuum III: Tethered Together
Mr. Brightside
Welcome Home

Taking Back Sunday setlist
A Decade Under the Influence
What’s It Feel Like to Be a Ghost?
S’Old
Error: Operator
Set Phasers to Stun
The One
Liar
Amphetamine Smiles
You’re So Last Summer
My Blue Heaven
You Can’t Look Back
Twenty-Twenty Surgery
This Photograph Is Proof
Flicker, Fade
Cute Without the E
MakeDamnSure