Taste of Chaos 2009
Review by Alicia Applecore
The Rockstar Taste of Chaos Tour, rightly called Winter Warped Tour by some, is scheduled at the perfect time every year. The show takes place a few months before both Bamboozle and Warped Tour, and acts as the granola bar that your mom used to give you in the afternoon, saying, "Eat this and shut up until dinnertime." Okay, bad comparison, but you know what I mean. Anyway, the New Jersey date of the RTOC was held at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, which caused many people to complain. Starland is small to begin with, but looks tiny in comparison with Convention Hall, which housed Taste of Chaos last year. Somehow, we all managed to squeeze in.
Having arrived fashionably late (yeah, right), I grabbed my press wristband and followed my friends into the merch area. I believe that the first band was local and had won an opening spot at the show, but they were finishing their set when I walked in. Cancer Bats were set to play next. After the painstaking wait for sound check to be over, the huge projection screen rolled up and the colored lights started flashing. Many of the people I've talked to didn't know who they were before that night, but almost everyone said that they put on a great show. After roughly half an hour, they walked off stage.
Gazing around, I noticed that the crowd seemed much younger than last year's, and that four out of five kids that shimmied past me were wearing Bring Me the Horizon shirts. I was knocked out of my people-watching daze by the screen once again rolling up and the mostly girly screams behind me. Not being very knowledgeable on Pierce The Veil, I couldn't tell you anything that they played, other than that I heard the intro to "Lollipop" once. The boys bounced around the stage for quite some time, making funny faces and singing their hearts out for the kids who came to see them. The crowd was all smiles until PTV departed.
Now, the mob was buzzing because the "bearded guys" in Four Year Strong were coming on next. Their following looked slightly older, but no less rowdy. The guys came out in matching FYS varsity hoodies, which was really cool. They had tons of energy to match the audience's excitement. I popped into the crowd after my time in the photo pit was up and had a ton of fun. The kids went especially crazy when Four Year Strong played their single, "Bada Bing! Wit' a Pipe!" and a very bouncy number called "Catastrophe."
The second the normal lights turned on again, I saw a writhing tangle of kids pushing for the front of the general admission area. I laughed, because I knew they'd be doing that for all of the ridiculously long sound check. Bring Me the Horizon is on top of the scene right now, a (insert genre here)core version of the Backstreet Boys, with Oli Sykes as Nick Carter - he was always my favorite. Yet again, the lights died and the kids squealed. "Ohmigawd, which side are they coming from? I hope he touches my hand. Oli is soooo hot! EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" was all I could hear for a few seconds. Then the band did their thing, and I heard from friends later that people just a few rows back from the crying girls in the front were being taken out for injuries left and right during the two songs I shot. I went into the crowd again after that, and it was quite the battleground. A girl took a spinkick to the face and immediately passed out. The air was electric, the room smelled like sweat, music and intensity, and I can't think of anything better than that.
BMTH had a short set, compared to some of the other bands. My prediction came true. When the band left, so did fifty percent of the room. Big mistake, in my opinion. The next and final band, Thursday, are Jersey boys and their home shows are always incredible. They've been around for a long time, and most of their crowd was older. It took a while, but the stage was finally set and the band walked out. Geoff, the singer, was in and out of the crowd tons of times. The fans knew every word, and his voice was hard to separate from theirs. The set was lengthy. Those who stuck around for the last few songs got to see the huge black balloons that appeared over the crowd, and we all had fun hitting them around until they popped. Thursday said they would play until they got told to stop, which was much too soon. The band said their farewells, and the mob dispersed. Some would argue that this year's Taste of Chaos was nothing next to the 2008 show. Others would beg to differ. But who cares about them? This is my review. I had an amazing time this year, and I thought it was cool how there was something for everyone. That was one hell of a granola bar.