By Erin Hayes
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Tuesday, March 20, 2007, The OG, arts

AFTER ARRIVING LATE at Thursday night's Taste of Chaos concert due to end-of-the-quarter academic strife, I plunged head first into a hectic mixing pot of screaming, pummeling bass, shrieking guitar, heavy drums, and highly melodic vocals.

Saosin, the first band I witnessed, blew me away with their sheer volume; I was physically shaken by their bass, a phenomenon I hadn't experienced since I saw The Matches in 2004.

Jared Leto of 30 Seconds to Mars.
(Gargoyle photo by Erin Hayes)
(click to enlarge)

Their performance reeked of raw energy and feeling. In particular, lead singer Cove Reber was an eyebrow-raiser. He threw himself into the show with a violence equal to that which I experienced upon entering Assembly Hall.

The only Saosin song I had heard before Thursday night, their popular stinger “Voices,” was at the end of their set.

I can honestly say from an objective, non-fan standpoint that their performance of this song was incredible: The climax of the song, a shatteringly high, held note for Reber, was executed perfectly. By the time Saosin retired from the stage, I was in a state of astonishment.

Within about 10 minutes of Saosin's performance, a circular platform on the stage rotated 180 degrees, efficiently revealing the setting for the next group, Senses Fail.

This was something of a turning point for the concert (no pun intended); the three bands that performed after Saosin's set adopted a general “f**k the haters” vibe that eventually spread to and engulfed the audience. The separate messages were more or less as follows:

• Senses Fail: “F—k the people who don't like you!” (more specifically, according to lead singer/screamer Buddy Nielsen, the people who don't like you “maybe because you don't play sports”)

• 30 Seconds To Mars: “F—k you!” (which they encouraged the audience to chant)

• The Used: “F—k liars!”

Indicative of, or perhaps resulting from, this vibe was an increased mediocrity in the performances that followed.

Senses Fail, while showing off undeniably decent instrumentation (especially their rapid drumming, which consistently and masterfully utilized the double bass), was amazingly immature. Or, perhaps that's an unfair generalization to make about the entire band. Instead, I'll pin it on Nielsen, who proclaimed, “I have an eight-inch c—k!” among other base and useless things.

30 Seconds To Mars, on the other side of the spectrum, aimed too high, and missed their goal. They performed with an attitude as though they were the headlining band, lacing their performance with unnecessary pomp but failing to deliver musically.

The pompous part: They appeared on (and exited) the stage amid dramatic Gregorian chanting, began their set with a not-exactly-amusing skit (pretending to be campers who were dumbfounded by all the onlookers surrounding their tent), and resultantly donned full-body costumes of camouflage, orange hunting vests, yellow goggles, and kneepads, surrounded by Chinese-inspired decorations intended to remind audience members of the new video for their song “From Yesterday.”

The unmusical part: 30 Seconds To Mars' instrumentation is simply not that impressive, in recordings or live. On top of that, lead singer Jared Leto (who, not surprisingly, is also an actor) did not even sing some of his most engaging lines. For example, when they played their wildly popular hit “The Kill,” Leto simply let the audience bear the burden of much of the chorus.

Quinn Allman of The Used. (Gargoyle
photo by Erin Hayes) (click to enlarge)

Luckily, the next band was also the final one, and happened to be the one I had been anticipating all evening: The Used.

As a whole, the performance they gave was very engaging, and truly interesting. However, I was unpleasantly surprised by the lack of energy I perceived from this band.

Their guitarist and backup singer, Quinn Allman, didn't seem himself; he appeared to be either sick or exhausted, with sagging eyes and an emaciated face, and performed accordingly, hitting all the right notes, but lacking much of the desired passion.

Similarly, lead singer Bert McCracken delivered a performance that was certainly passable on a musical level but lacked a lot of personality.

Normally, McCracken's attitude, physical involvement, self-sacrifice, and zeal are enough to strike terror and awe into my heart (no joke), but on Thursday, most of these elements were OK at best.

A high point in their performance was their song “A Box Full of Sharp Objects.” For this number, McCracken summoned wiL Francis (lead singer of Aiden, a band that performed earlier in the evening) to the stage.

When Francis approached, he handed McCracken a black rose, and the pair shared a tender kiss before breaking into frenzied singing, shouting, and dancing. Francis' presence added a lot of emotion to the show, and seemed to energize McCracken.

Overall, Taste of Chaos proved to be more of a headbanger's heaven than the emotional outlet I was expecting. But, when you think about it, is there really anything wrong with that?

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