Shaun Cooper of Taking Back Sunday plays an electric bass guitar on stage, silhouetted in blue lighting with fog and beams of light in the background. — Shaun Cooper of Taking Back Sunday, which plays MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre in Tampa, Florida on Sept. 6, 2025. Credit: Jack Cymbryla

Members of Taking Back Sunday are going through a bit of a tumultuous hour, but the New York emo icons are trucking on anyway—with a new drummer, Nashville’s Mitchell Register, in tow—and doing a career retrospective as openers for Coheed and Cambria.

Our headliners’ annual stop in town is part of a tour promoting a new album-slash-next chapter of their ongoing “Amory Wars” saga (pick up a graphic novel, would you?!) Vaxis – Act III: The Father of Make Believe.

Before this scorcher of a show, Taking Back Sunday bassist Shaun Cooper recalled the best gig he ever saw almost 35 years ago.

Read his full quote below.

The best concert I ever saw was Poison at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, with Warrant opening the show. The internet tells me the date was November 23, 1990. I had just turned 10 years old, and my cousin Jay called me on our land line and invited me.

My mind was totally blown. Their album Flesh and Blood had just come out the previous summer and I wore the cassette tape out and knew every lyric. I probably still do. Poison were at the height of their powers! We had the best time and I left so inspired. I wanted to do exactly what they were doing up on that stage. Some way, somehow I’d have to make that dream a reality. -Shaun Cooper, Taking Back Sunday

Tickets to see Coheed and Cambria with Taking Back Sunday and Foxing play MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre on Saturday, Sept. 6 are still available and start at $28.19.