Taking Back Sunday’s Fall Tour Finale – The Pearl, LV

October 18, 2026 – Well, folks… I have not gotten enough of a nostalgia fix yet. This time, I ventured to The Pearl Theater inside The Palms hotel & casino for Taking Back Sunday with special guests, Thrice and Saves the Day. This Vegas date was the final day of this run for these bands, and it sure was something special. 

Taking Back Sunday is one of the few bands that I never had the chance to see back in the beginning, and I’m not really sure why. So many of their songs were on my sad emo kid mix cd’s, and self made playlists on my little pink iPod nano. Better late than never, right? Right!? Okay… Just a little warning, I’ve been listening to these three bands on repeat just letting my whole soul pour out in front of me. Just like I did when I was a kid sitting in a dark room trying to figure out… “what the fuck even is this life?” Let’s get into this one before I let my ADHD pivot me somewhere else entirely.

Saves the Day

The first time I ever saw Saves the Day was in 2005 at the House of Blues, they co-headlined a tour with Senses Fail. I hadn’t had very many concerts under my belt at the time so those early ones always stick out for me. Life took me for a ride on the musical discovery front, and I can’t recall if I’d seen them on a flyer for Vegas for a while after that. I was able to catch them again about ten years ago at Backstage Bar & Billiards. So it’s been a while. While my brain can’t seem to fine tune details, I do remember feeling the same feeling at both of those shows, and again on this night. Surreal.

I always felt like Saves the Day was a little underrated when you look at the big picture of the post hardcore/post punk/pop punk music of the time, but that could just be because… Vegas is fucking weird sometimes when it comes to draw and popularity in the music realm. At any rate, Saves the Day powered through a good chunk of fan favorites, opening up with “Anywhere With You” off of the 2003 album In Reverie, following up with “Through Being Cool” off of their 1999 album of the same name. (Anyone else feeling old reading that? Just me? Okay.) “The End” off of 2006’s Sound the Alarm followed, and already we have a pretty decent mix of the old stuff. This continued on through the rest of the set and I was stoked to hear so many old goodies, and we got an awesome performance of “Invader” which was released just last month, (Sept 2026). Can I just say that it is so incredible that these bands are still churning out new music? Just makes my heart happy. 

I had a fun little moment with a security guard giggling at me while I belted out the lyrics to “Freakish” and “Nightingale”, I couldn’t help myself. Those were the first songs I had ever heard from Saves the Day and they still hit me right in the feels. An exceptional closing with “At Your Funeral”, in which Adam Lazzara (Taking Back Sunday) joined the guys, making this set extra special. What a great way to kick off the evening!

Thrice

Thrice is one of my favorite bands in post hardcore. No, seriously. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been fortunate to see and cover them, and they blow me away every single time I get to stand in front of them. On this particular night, the guys were extra energetic, running back and forth and just vibing with all of all the good energy.

Thrice’s setlist hasn’t shifted too much through the years, but this time around there were only a couple of songs that are on the more recent side of their discography. “Holding On”, “Albatross” and “Gnash” all coming from the 2026 record Horizons/West were scattered between songs off of 2003’s The Artist in the Ambulance along with “Red Sky” off of 2005’s Vheissu, “In Exile” from 2009’s Beggars, and one of my most favorites of their newer material, “Black Honey” off of 2016’s To Be Everywhere is to Be Nowhere. I walked away from this set feeling all sorts of giddy, even though they never play my favorite song of theirs. Though, my favorite song is off of their 2002 record, The Illusion of Safety, I’ll give them a pass. I don’t expect them to play deeper cuts from that record, especially given how much growth they’ve had over the last two decades. 

I’ll still always go see them regardless of anything. Thrice is truly a gem in the world of post hardcore and if you haven’t seen them… WHY? Go change that. You won’t regret it.

Taking Back Sunday

Alas, we are at the final set of the evening. And I’m realizing as I’ve been writing that I never got to see Taking Back Sunday before now because they regularly sold out EVERY. VENUE. THEY PLAYED here in Vegas. They were (and still are) kind of a big deal. 

Taking Back Sunday played an extensive 21 song set. Probably one of the longest sets I’ve seen in quite some time. Within these 21 songs, we got to take a stroll down memory lane, through just about every record they’ve released over the last 25 years. Opening up with the first two tracks off of 2006’s Louder Now, (What it Feels Like to be A Ghost; Liar (It Takes One to Know One)) which I’d argue is probably their most (commercially) successful record as a band. No, seriously. I remember back in the day even the popular kids and jocks got into this band through that record. Though I always drifted towards Tell All Your Friends (2002) and Where You Want to Be (2004), myself. Thankfully we got a great handful of tracks from those two records as well. I mean, how could they NOT play those songs??? Set Phasers to Stun, Cute Without the E (Cut From the Team), Timberwolves at New Jersey, You’re So Last Summer, and A Decade Under the Influence were strategically scattered through the set and it really hit the crowd just right with each song. 

Songs like Lightbringer, The One, and S’Old from 2023’s 152 record provided just enough sparks to keep the crowd interested in their new stuff, while enjoying so much of those old favorites. And let’s be honest, after 25 years and the spotlight on the emo scene from the early 2000’s lately, the old stuff is the main draw for this kind of show. Nothing against that newer material, I really love Adam Lazzara’s passion in his stage presence and there’s a clear upwards growth path with Taking Back Sunday as a whole, heavy emphasis on the last ten years. 

Overall I was pleased with Taking Back Sunday’s performance. The music was loud, it sounded good, and the guys had really great energy throughout the entire set. Earlier on Adam had mentioned that they were not going to do an encore, the reasoning being that they’d be able to play more songs if they didn’t do it – so that explains the massive set list. I did have the funniest afterthought while I was going through photos, I had totally forgotten that I had seen guitarist/vocalist Fred Mascherino just a couple short years ago on the Taverna Costera upstairs stage with my friends in Lie for Fun, and that memory made me a little giddy, I was happy to see him back on stage with TBS after he did his solo run. 

I know there’s been a slew of mixed opinions through the years regarding Taking Back Sunday’s live shows, but having never seen them live before I had nothing to compare it to. While things may be a little different than they were back in the day, it’s still a pretty fun show, whether you’re a long time fan or you’re just finding them for the first time. While writing this I spent a good chunk of time revisiting their entire discography, and indulging my inner child with those emotional lyrics from those first two records, and very much enjoying all of the newer tracks and kind of real time seeing the growth and evolution of the band’s sound. They haven’t strayed too far from all that made them so popular, but with age comes different experiences and it’s reflective in both the lyrics and in the melodies.

I would definitely see Taking Back Sunday again given the opportunity! 

Until next time… 

SETLIST:

1. What’s It Feel Like to Be a Ghost?
2. Liar (It Takes One to Know One)
3. Set Phasers to Stun
4. The One
5. Error: Operator
6. Tidal Wave
7. Divine Intervention
8. You’re So Last Summer
9. Twenty-Twenty Surgery
10. Flicker, Fade
11. Brooklyn (If You See Something, Say Something) 
12. Timberwolves at New Jersey
13. S’Old
14. My Blue Heaven
15. Stood a Chance 
16. A Decade Under the Influence
17. Lightbringer
18. Miami
19. You Can’t Look Back
20. Cute Without the ‘E’ (Cut From the Team)
21. MakeDamnSure

PHOTO CREDIT: Live photos by Courtney Ware for ZRockR Magazine – @ 2026 – All Rights Reserved.