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TyronneTaste of Chaos 2006 Sydney
October 16th 2006 03:40
Chantal's post, "No One Understands Me," sparked a large but intelligible debate on the emo trend and its effects on society. Saturday night was its manifestation in the real world. Taste of Chaos 2006
- a quasi-music festival held in the Sydney Entertainment Centre, with a lineup boasting the likes of Underoath
, Thursday
and Taking Back Sunday
- emos eat your heart out.I never had high hopes for the concert - I was there to see Saosin
and Taking Back Sunday, because I like their music. But upon arriving at the Entertainment Centre, I almost immediately regretted my decision. Kids everywhere, ranging anywhere from 12 to 25, but with the majority undeniably remaining in the 12-14 range. Black hair, shirts sporting your favourite emotionally-charged artist, and the odd piercing just to prove that you were hardcore enough to be there. Then, of course, there were the 13-year olds wearing shirts emblazoned with "The Clash London Calling"
logo, even though it was obvious that they though The Clash were simply some band "my dad used to listen to."
and Thursday graced the main stage, screaming their way through three and a half hours, with the occasional "give a f------ shout for all the bands that are out here tonight." For the most part, it was in no way memorable. However, Anti-Flag rates a specific mention.The arena is pitch black, the only visible thing on the stage being two large "gun-stars", and the only thing to be heard is the army of 12 year olds chanting "Anti-Flag." Suddenly, you can hear guitar, a rendition of the American anthem. Given that the band's political viewpoint is publicly anti-Bush, I expected a very Hendrix-like version - twisted in such a way to dishonour the anthem. But to no avail - the anthem was straight, simple and merely a segway into their set. Bassist and vocalist Chris raised his fist in the air, and began a chant in which the mindless audience soon followed, something along the lines of "united we fight."
The rest of the set followed suit - the extremely untalented foursome preaching to a bunch of Australian teenagers about George Bush's failings, the War on Terror, and the objectification of women. Lest I say that the most entertaining portion of their set was "The Biggest Circle Pit Ever Recorded" - kids running around in circles, basically.
The Biggest Circle Pit Ever
For three and a half hours, I sat, hardly interested in the bands themselves, but rather watching the crowd surfers get violently pulled from the audience by power-tripping security guards. Underoath was mildly interesting, but the only thing that made them unique from the rest was the occasional keyboard appearance.
Finally, the bands I was waiting for. As soon as Thursday gave their final hoorah, Saosin entered... on the secondary stage - the one reserved for all the bad Aussie hardcore bands. It was an insult to the band and to me as a fan, but nevertheless they managed to perform better than any of the bands before them, by far. The majority of their songs were from their recent debut album, however they chucked in Seven Years for the sake of those who actually knew who they were. Despite frontman Cove Reber's inital vocal problems, they definitely performed excellently, and by themselves made the concert worth it.
What's It Feel Like to Be A Ghost
Having proved themselves to be one of the best acts of the night, Saosin left the stage, allowing a five-minute anticipatory gap before the inevitable occured - concert headliners Taking Back Sunday. The quintet's set began with an explosive intro with a Kill Bill twist, seamlessly merging into the muted guitar riff for What's It Feel Like to Be A Ghost?. Immediately, any and all rumours I had previously heard that Adam Lazzara was a poor live performer were instantly washed away, to be replaced by the opposite. Lazzara's voice was at the top of the game and, while Fred Mascherino's vocals are arguably a little more consistent, Lazzara remains the entertaining frontman.
The band covered a range of material from Cute Without the E lifted from their debut album, "Tell All Your Friends,"
to the latest hits from their last effort, "Louder Now."
They also managed to prove that they were the most entertaining band at the concert, actually interacting with the audience as opposed to minimalistic attempts by Anti-Flag and Thursday. Despite reports that Lazzara's mic-swinging antics has previously caused incidents to occur, they were ever-present at the show, making it look like he was going to choke himself.With a ticket price of $68, the concert was indefinitely aimed at teenagers managing to scrape money off their parents. While at first I was regretting my purchase, the three and a half hours of horrible music was quickly replaced by one and a half hours of bliss, served by Saosin and Taking Back Sunday. Thankfully, the concert wasn't a sellout, showing that maybe not the whole of Sydney is doomed after all.
The arena about two minutes after Taking Back Sunday left the stage. No Encore. No Nothing.
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Comment by DanielR
bloody emo kids. not like the old days, blah blah blah...
i wonder if there was this kind of indie backlash against grunge when it was rife? or ay other flash in the pan genre, for that matter. it seems that more and more people dislike emo every day, so give it a year or so. when bono starts having a go we'll know it's safe for everyone to hate it.
Comment by Jimbo
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Wang
George W. Bush is a raging racist.
George W. Bush committed hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism (indicated in my blog).
George W. Bush did in fact commit innumerable hate crimes.
And I do solemnly swear by Almighty God that George W. Bush committed other hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism which I am not at liberty to mention.
Many people know what Bush did.
And many people will know what Bush did—even to the end of the world.
Bush was absolute evil.
Bush is now like a fugitive from justice.
Bush is a psychological prisoner.
Bush has a lot to worry about.
Bush can technically be prosecuted for hate crimes at any time.
In any case, Bush will go down in history in infamy.
Respectfully Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993
(I can type 90 words per minute. In only 7 days, posts basically like this post of mine have come into existence—all over the Internet (hundreds of copies). One can go to Google USA right now, type “George W. Bush committed hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism,” hit “Enter,” and find more than 350 copies indicating the content of this post. All in all, there are probably more than 1,000 copies on the Internet indicating the content of this post—it has practically become headline news. One cannot be too dedicated when it comes to anti-Bush activities. As I looked back at my good computer work, I thought how fun and easy it was to do it.)
“GEORGE W. BUSH IS THE WORST PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY” BLOG OF ANDREW YU-JEN WANG
_________________
I am not sure where I had read it before, but anyway, it goes kind of like this: “If only it were possible to ban invention that bottled up memories so they never got stale and faded.” Oh wait—off the top of my head—I think it came from my Lower Merion High School yearbook.