Sayreville, NJ – 12 December 2025
It’s the most wonderful time of the year when Taking Back Sunday turn Starland Ballroom into a celebration of nostalgia, chaos and Christmas magic.
There’s something special about December shows at Starland Ballroom. Maybe it’s the finality of the year, everyone determined to squeeze one last perfect night out of the calendar before it flips… maybe it’s the heat of a pulsing crowd pushing back against the winter cold outside… hell, maybe it really is holiday magic. Whatever it is, it’s tangible. Over the last few years, Starland has become my favorite venue for end-of-year shows, the alchemists behind the scenes somehow transforming the room into something warmer, louder and brighter every December.
That feeling was amplified by the centerpiece of the season… a four-night holiday run split between Mulcahy’s on Long Island and Starland Ballroom, hosted by elder emo lifers Taking Back Sunday. By the time the first New Jersey night arrived (third overall if you count the Mulcahy’s dates), it felt less like a concert and more like a seasonal ritual. A pilgrimage. A weird little emo Christmas tradition.
Kayleigh Goldsworthy opened the night surrounded by lit evergreens, blow-mold icons like Olaf, the Grinch and a glowing leg lamp. Against the cozy clutter of holiday décor, Goldsworthy filled the stage with warmth and presence, her sugar-laced songs feeling like a mug of something hot in frozen hands. It was wholesomeness we probably didn’t deserve. Adding to the scene was Adam Lazzara watching from side stage, holding a small child and staring on with the wide-eyed awe of Ralphie’s brother gazing into the glow of a Christmas miracle.
Origami Angel followed, and the ‘Gami Gang had no intention of letting the energy dip. In the spirit of Starland’s holiday excess, their massive riffs and technically perfect drumming filled the room with a sound far bigger than any two-piece has a right to make. I’m usually skeptical of stripped-down lineups… one person anchored to a drum kit, the other tethered to a mic stand. Origami Angel proved none of that matters if you kick this much ass. Their bright, summery jams bounced perfectly off a Christmas tree–lined stage, like beach music blasting through a snowstorm.
After a short changeover, Taking Back Sunday took the stage. The expectation, at least for me, was that the core lineup would be joined by both John Nolan and Fred Mascherino. While John couldn’t make it, the band addressed it directly, explaining that plans had been in place but family always comes first. Adam noted that John was home for the night, presumably pulling on a particularly festive Christmas sweater. Fred, meanwhile, brought his own warmth to the stage, still one of the kindest people in rock… even tossing a lure at the venue’s PokéStop for the Pokémon Go nerds in attendance.
If Fred brought warmth, Adam Lazzara brought fire. Online critics love to complain that he dances too much, swings microphones too wildly and doesn’t deliver studio-perfect vocals. Fuck those people. They’ve never understood Taking Back Sunday. Lazzara has always been eccentric and frenetic, his stage presence part revivalist preacher, part ’70s rock god. On this night, he felt like the Starland Christmas version of Bellsnickel… impish, admirable and absolutely unhinged in the best way. He knows that if he’s having fun, we’re having fun, and the room followed his lead.
The band tore through a generous mix of classics from their first three records, the crowd functioning as a full-blown holiday choir. Newer cuts like “S’Old” sat comfortably beside “Cute Without the E (Cut From the Team),” before the band leaned fully into the season with “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). By the time they closed with “MakeDamnSure,” Santa was moshing, Mrs. Claus was crowd-surfing and Starland felt like the North Pole if the elves grew up on Victory Records.
For a band that broke through twenty years ago, whose fans have traded carabiners for car seats, this could have felt like old hat. Instead, it felt like a reunion. Nostalgia won, and for a bunch of thirty- and forty-something weirdos who once clung hard to the idea of saying sorry for someone else’s act of violence, this holiday gathering was cathartic, perfect and every other superlative still slipping past my pen.
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed’s musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he’s self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/