The Skyline View

Date created: 3/26/07 Section: ENTERTAINMENT

Taking Back Sunday was the headlining band at the Concourse.

On March 14, three rock bands graced San Francisco: Taking Back Sunday, Underoath, and Armor For Sleep. They played at a venue called The Concourse, which is a design center that looks like a gigantic glass green house.

It made me wonder why there would be a rock show held in such a pleasant venue as it might be trashed later on in the night, but as my sister, her best friend and I entered, that thought disappeared as I saw what looked like a warehouse department.

There was the normal scanning of the ticket at the entrance, but I did not have to empty my pockets or circle around for the security, which was odd.

We arrived 10 minutes before the actual start of the show and it's already packed, but we managed to pick a spot on the upper left hand side near the stage.

Armor For Sleep was first up to go. I'm not a big fan of theirs but I knew at least three songs, including the last song they played, "Car Underwater."

The crowd was either loving it that they swayed and jumped back and forth, or they knew it was the last song and they were pushing their way to the front for the next band. Whatever the reason, they played an awesome show and I actually enjoyed it because yes, I'm a sucker for a boy who sings about him being in a car underwater, saying even though I abandoned him, he'd still die for me.

Speaking of "under," the next band was Underoath. I never liked them before, but after watching them live, they were alright. At first, I thought "Okay, this guy's vocal cords are really rough and I can't understand what he's saying," so I took my focus off of the band for a moment. I took a look at who did care about their music; their fans. There was major pushing and mosh pits getting started. It was a wild scene and I don't think I've seen anything like it before.

We stood by, the stairs that lead to the exit from the floor and security were trying to keep fans within a yellow line of tape so they wouldn't get pushed and smacked into the wall or stairway. But that's not the case. The crowd kept pushing side-to-side until that song ended, and would continue again once a new song has started.

Our view of the band was always interupted by security stopping fights and grabbing them out of the crowd or assisting the injured.

I set my focus back to the band onstage and the scorching screamer dedicated the second to last song to the one and only, Jesus Christ himself. I quickly looked at my sister and we exchanged smiles because we knew it would happen. A few months ago, I wouldn't have thought that this hardcore, emo, screamo band was a hardcore, emo, screamo, Christian band.

Continued...

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