Taste Of Chaos 2007
W/ The Used, 30 Seconds To Mars, Senses Fail, Chiodos, Saosin, Aiden, Evaline
Mar. 30, 2007
Arrow Hall, Mississauga, ON


At the end of the night, there was still an uncertainty about what chaos, in fact, tasted like but it was fairly obvious its fashion taste was definitely for shorts. The other theme of the night was the high amounts of energy emanating from the crowd that had to have contributed to the great performances from the acts.

6 o’ clock seemed a bit early for the amount of swearing that Aiden's singer, Wil Francis, used; constantly going off while talking in between the band's hard-set songs. Their performance came across big despite some evident soundboard problems. Francis had a great hold on the crowd and had nearly the entire arena moving around and slamming into each other. His actions on stage could best be described as "inciting a riot" and even went to the lengths of destroying the drum set after finishing up. These antics are sometimes exhaustive but, on this night, they were well suited.

Chiodos hit the stage after an odd introduction from a guy wearing a bunny costume. Their singer's scream over the double-bass pedal drumming style was comparable to that of Underoath's and sounded great live. After several of their songs, pianist Bradley Bell and singer Craig Owens segued into beautifully light interludes to soften the mood. Their bassist, Matt Goddard, was donning some extra-short shorts that made him appear to be nude behind his instrument which actually made it a relief to see the garment.

Saosin came on very shortly after Chiodos mainly due to the fact that the stage hands were able to setup outstandingly quick. This factor really helped contribute to the flow and overall mood to the show. They played a lot of material off their most recent album and the crowd ate it up, especially during their change of pace song, “You're Not Alone.” Singer Cove Reber did his best stripper imitation and by the end of their set, he was down to only the night's thematic shorts.

Next up was Senses Fail who didn’t stick to stuff from their newest album and dipped into all parts of their catalogue. It was quite odd that they didn’t play their recent single “Can’t be Saved” but did close with “The Priest and The Matador,” their newest video. Singer Buddy Neilson must have been studying up on Taking Back Sunday’s sets (who were in town the night before) and demonstrated some incredible ability with mic-tricks during guitar solos. Neilson also carried on the theme of short-wearing band members for the night.

The band that broke dress code was 30 Seconds To Mars who wore the outfits reminiscent of their latest video “From Yesterday.” You can’t blame Jared Leto for not wanting to show too much skin though; the rabid female fans may have jumped him on stage if he did. Most of their set was comprised of their newer work and didn’t even bother to play their debut single “Capricorn (A Brand New Name).” The band, as a whole, didn’t sound like they were on the same page and some songs didn’t come across as cohesive, but it was of no fault of their new bassist, who sounded like he was the only one playing the right material. Leto also made it fairly obvious how he stayed in such great shape by running around the stage at what seemed like full-speed whenever he had the chance. He also managed to profess his love for Toronto more than any other mouth-piece I’ve seen hit a stage ever. I’m pretty sure they’ll be coming back sometime soon.

The headliners of the night were, of course, the Used, who gave the crowd everything they wanted. One thing I’ll never understand is the reason that vulgar bands like the Used and Aiden call their paying fans Motherfuckers; it stands without reason. During their set they played an outstanding medley where they combined three of their hits (“Taste of Ink,” “All That I’ve Got” and “Buried Alive”) into one long, flowing piece. Singer Bert McCracken, sporting his Kurt Cobain-style bleached-blonde locks was especially great on stage and closed out the show excellently.

While it may still be up in the air what flavour Chaos is, it’s well known what it sounds like in concert.

- Dan Bilicki

For more pics from Taste Of Chaos click here...





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