Taking Back Sunday // BABYRAT // Live Review // The Limelight // Belfast
This one is a tasty one and has been on the calendar for a while. Taking Back Sunday were last in Belfast around the time when my journey with Rock ’N’ Load took flight. And tonight, Taking Back Sunday find themselves back at The Limelight Belfast 9 years on from their 2017 appearance to a packed-out house hungry for more!
Formed way back in 1999, just in time for The Millennium Bug to end the world- #spoileralert it didn’t happen- the good old US of A gave birth to one of rock’s seminal bands, Taking Back Sunday. With 8 studio albums under their belt, with the most recent one, 152, back in 2023 after a 7-year gap, the fans were ready to welcome the guys back into the world with a newfound enthusiasm and a lust for life. Once again, Adam Lazzara, John Nolan and Shaun Cooper will take us to the brink and beyond with an electric show packed with fan faves and a whole lotta energy!
Bring it on!
The guys are back on this side of the pond taking part in the Slam Dunk Festival in the UK at the weekend, so it makes sense to “Make Hay While The Sun Shines”, as they say, and grab a few opportunities to play in front of blood-thirsty fans whenever you can. Alongside them tonight, we have Babyrat, a Cork quartet of alt-rock-pop-punk goodness to set the limelight alight and whet the appetite for a night’s craic we’ll all remember for another 7 years or more.
7:30 sharp, and Babyrat takes to the stage. Zoe Callanan leads from the front, an enigmatic figure, an energy matched by the incomparable Stevie Healy on drums. Guitarists Matthew ‘Chewie’ Lucas and Jamie ‘Jamo’ Kierans bring the noise, and what a noise it is. So, as I fully expected, these cats are a ball of energy! Right from the off, their faces are beaming as they slay their way across a high-octane, high-intensity set, playing like their lives depend on it!
You can tell how much playing on local soil to a killer crowd means to them; they may be the supporting act, but they’re treating it like they’re headlining, and you’ve got to love their passion for that. Their music has the Belfast crowd whipped up into a frenzy; Zoe is magnetic to watch, and the guys behind her provide a solid backline that lets her work her magic up front. The band are a ball of energy, throwing themselves around to a soundtrack that has everyone in the room on a rager. By the time they wrap things up, the Limelight knows they have been introduced to a savage band on their way up and one to watch for sure.
Photography: Mark McGrogan
8:30 and the lights drop, and the guys take to the stage and burst into Ghost, and the place goes wild! The room is packed from front to back, and it is bouncing! The guys are on fire, unleashing a blistering set upon a packed-out room bloodthirsty for a soundtrack to bring them right back to the early 2000s. The setlist tonight will mean something different to everyone, but The Limelight themselves posted the setlist from their last time here in 2017, and it’ll be interesting to see who they have lined up. Fan favourites are fan favourites, and sometimes, as hard as bands try, they can’t outrun them! But this is what it’s all about: playing to the masses, appeasing those who adore you and only get the opportunity every few years to share 90 minutes of magic with you. Tonight, though, these guys are on fire! It is my first time catching the band live, and I wasn’t quite sure what I thought I was in for, but these guys are off the charts. Their live sound is huge! And the soundtrack is glorious! The interchanging vocals of Adam and John is a thing of beauty, but the one thing that rocked my world was watching Adam bust some serious moves up there on stage! He is like a man possessed! He’s a frenetic ball of energy that never stops moving, a pain in the ass to photograph but great to watch live. Both guitarists on either side are firmly planted beside their guitar boards, spread out across a sizeable stage bathed in glorious light. They slam on those instruments track after track, knocking out TBS classics that set the room ablaze.
The bangers just keep coming; fans are dancing around as they have just got an early Christmas present. I can see young ladies pushing their way to the front to get a better view, dancing in a circle, having the best night of their lives. This is what it’s all about: a community of fans gathered together in their huddled masses rocking the fuck out to the soundtrack of their youth. Adam shares his love for being back in Ireland. The show itself may have been a warm-up for Slam Dunk in the UK, but those gathered in the room tonight will take any opportunity to catch their fav band in the flesh again, and it may have been a nine-odd-year wait since they last strutted this stage, but strut this stage they did. They knocked it out of the park, delivering a show that reminded everyone in the room why TBS are that seminal band, that band that helped shape the face of US and UK rock in the years that followed. Tonight we got it up close and personal, and it felt good, cathartic, and as the last notes rang out of MakeDamnSure, the room was like a furnace. The hot, sweaty bodies of both band members and fans alike confirmed a good time was had by all. Let’s not leave it so long next time, lads. Till then, Belfast bids you adieu!
Photography: Mark McGrogan
