Just over a year ago, Kevin Lyman, the creator of the successful summer festival Warped Tour, dreamed up something new: the Taste of Chaos tour-- a smaller tour based more upon metal than its summer counterpart. In its freshman year, it featured artists such as headliners the Used, My Chemical Romance, and Killswitch Engage. In this, its second time around, Taste of Chaos brought to stage acts such as the Deftones, Thrice, and Atreyu. From Story of the Year's mainstream pop-punk sound to As I Lay Dying's furious brand of metalcore, the Taste of Chaos tour indeed served up a taste of everything for Camden, NJ the night of March 4th. Accompanying the main acts was a mix of up-and-coming bands tearing it up on myspace.com's second stage, keeping the crowd entertained during main stage set changes.
Lyman's Taste of Chaos almost seemed to be split into two courses: one hosting bands that were well-known within their own realm of music, and the other showing off acts that all 7,500 screaming fans had heard of before entering the Tweeter Center that night. Opening the night was the UK's very own Funeral for a Friend. Frontman Matt Davies and company got things going, displaying their delicate balance between aggression and melody, and playing songs from their earlier, heavier releases, along with their most recent and more resigned album, Hours.
Following this Welsh quintet was the aggressive As I Lay Dying. Lead singer Tim Lambesis stomped around stage, pumping his fists, and leading his band in performing fan favorites, "94 Hours" and "Forever," along with others from Frail Words Collapse, the band's breakthrough 2003 album. From their revered 2005 release, Shadows Are Security, these San Diego natives electrified the crowd with "Distance is Darkness," "Meaning in Tragedy," and "Confined."
Closing out the first course was Orange County's Atreyu. True to form, the quintet went through their usual repertoire of songs, including "The Crimson," "Bleeding Mascara," and "Lip Gloss and Black," accompanied by its two posing guitarists, Dan Jacobs and Marc McKnight. However, the band did surprise the crowd with "Her Portrait in Black," a track that cannot be found on any of the band's releases. Atreyu also whetted the fans' appetites with "Ex's and Oh's" and "Creature," two tracks off of A Deathgrip on Yesterday, which will be released in the end of March.
The more mainstream Story of the Year, hailing from Missouri, kicked off the main course with a high energy performance. From lead singer Dan Marsala's toe-touching leap off a stack of amps to guitarists Ryan Phillips and Phillip Sneed tossing their guitars aside to perform pointless back flips for the crowd, Story of the Year never allowed its level of intensity to dip throughout their performance.
Following this borderline circus act was Thrice. With a laidback, heartfelt performance, Thrice laid down tracks ranging from old to new. In contrast to the previous acts, these four Californians delivered a more intimate performance, void of the usual dancing and running around on stage presented by most of the night's earlier bands.
Capping off Lyman's creation was the obvious crowd favorite and most seasoned group of the night: the Deftones. After nearly 18 years of work together, these old high school friends took the stage and finished off the night in proper fashion. Opening with White Pony's "Feiticeira," and closing with Adrenaline's "Seven Words," these veterans from Sacramento put on the best show of the night. Street Drum Corp, of the second stage, joined the Deftone's for a more than pleasant surprise and aided drummer Abe Cunningham in performing "RX Queen."
These six acts, along with a number of second-stagers, took Camden by storm and showed everyone exactly what chaos tastes like. Kevin Lyman is onto something good here with his Taste of Chaos tour, and one can only hope he will continue to provide such a varying assortment of bands to rock fans in the dead of winter.
