ARCHIVES: Goth rockers The Birthday Massacre overcome injury to slay Philly concert
In a backstage interview before the show, the injured singer of The Birthday Massacre admitted that she was worried about her Sunday night performance at the Theatre of Living Arts in Philadelphia.
Just days before, Sara “Chibi” Taylor hurt her knee on stage in Virginia and had to postpone the subsequent show. Following a sold-out performance at The Gramercy Theatre in New York City on Saturday, however, she made it to the City of Brotherly Love on Dec. 2 and wasn’t going to let a little knee brace keep her down. By the end of the night, it was obvious that her fears were unfounded.
After slightly ahead-of-schedule performances from Creature Feature, Aesthetic Perfection, and William Control, the Canadian goth rockers took the stage around 9:30 p.m. with the instrumental “Night Shift,” then quickly shifted into high gear with “Down,” the first single and harshest track off their latest album, “Hide and Seek.”
The band showcased other tracks from that record, including “Calling,” “Leaving Tonight,” and “The Long Way Home,” but it was the slowed-down, sludgier version of “Alibis,” with heavier bass and scratchier guitar, that really stood out and proved that they weren’t simply satisfied with sounding like their recorded material – they easily surpassed it with pitch-perfect vocals and engaging theatrics.
The majority of the setlist was taken from their fourth release, 2010’s “Pins and Needles,” blasting through the title track, “In the Dark,” “Always,” “Control,” “Midnight,” “Always,” and “Sleepwalking,” though they delved deeper into their over decade-long catalog with fan favorites like “Happy Birthday” and “Video Kid,” encouraging head banging and dancing in equal doses.
TBM’s ability to deliver hard-hitting, chugging riffs with Chibi’s beautiful, soaring voice attracted both men and women in love with their beat-driven sythpop, new wavey sound, most decked out in their black-and-pale Sunday best, a look shared by the stage blood-stained group. Because of their catchiness, however, the tunes transcend above these genre labels to enjoy a broader appeal, so no matter what personal tastes attendees had, there was no denying the fun-loving energy in the room.
Despite Chibi having to sit for several songs due to her knee, the frontwoman thrashed around in her schoolgirl outfit and pigtails and interacted with the crowd throughout, playfully placing a stuffed bunny, which serves as the band’s logo, on her head as she sang when it was tossed to her by a fan. She shared genuine laughs with guitarist and backing vocalist Michael Rainbow, whose lively performance was as colorful as his name, and she jumped right along with him so frequently that he jokingly warned her to take it easy or else she’d be piggyback riding the rest of the tour, a task he was not volunteering himself for.
Rather than leaving the stage, they moved right into the three-song encore, which ended with “Blue” from “Violet,” the band’s second album from 2005, finishing around 10:30 p.m. While it was an early night, the audience seemed quite satisfied with the 18 career-spanning songs they were treated to that evening but, more importantly, Chibi seemingly overcame her earlier fear without massacring herself – only in that did they not live up to their name after killing it for the last hour.
