Live Review: Taking Back Sunday, The Used, Corpus

Punters forced their way into HQ to witness one of the biggest alternative-rock bands of the last decade, The Used, with double headliners Taking Back Sunday, yet the openers proved the biggest surprise.

It’s difficult to describe Sydney’s Corpus in a way which will truly convey the duo’s vigorous energy. Their full frontal live assault took flight from the very instant the two walked out to perform and had more presence than a large majority of full five-piece bands in the scene, which did not go unnoticed by the audience. Strangling his Fender Telecaster, Keiron Steel took most of the vocal duties and sung with ample raw emotion. Not to be outshone, Jack Bruun-Hammond gave significant dynamic variance as he pounded the skins effortlessly, inspiring drummers in the venue.

Comparatively, New York’s Taking Back Sunday was extremely composed, placing them as weakest act of the evening. Though the tunes were recited to an impressive professional standard, the six-piece lacked the vibrant vitality the other ensembles exhibited – we’ve seen crazier mosh pits at acoustic shows. And although frontman Adam Lazzara covered considerable ground as he pranced across the stage romancing his audience, it was clear punters were seeking more from the band’s product. Taking Back Sunday had the potential to set HQ alight as they performed nostalgic tracks from their repertoire (Cute Without The ‘E’ and MakeDamnSure), yet the band never quite hit the mark.

The main event, however, was simply insane. To surmise The Used’s audience – screaming fangirls. Forget what you know about Beliebers or Directioners, the ladies want Bert McCracken. His vocal delivery was pitch-perfect and powerful as the band gave ardent executions of Bird And The Worm and All That I’ve Got. McCracken spoke unreservedly of freedom, politics, religion, and “the last true rocker, Kurt Cobain”. The personification of anti-the-system, McCracken told management that, “[We] are going to play one more song [Pretty Handsome Awkward] and then go out back and [the audience] is going to say ‘one more song’ and we’re going to come back and play two more songs,” which they completed in explosive fashion. The greatest moment of the night came after “we have been The Used and this is the greatest song in the world”, when guitarist Quinn Allman played the opening riff to Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit before transforming it into their own Box Full Of Sharp Objects, which was then distorted into Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name. If there is anything to learn from this night at HQ, it’s The Used lives