Taking Back Sunday. On a Sunday. In Oxford. All the stars were aligning surely?

Well largely yes but with a hint of no.

The thing about Taking Back Sunday is the raw power they emit on their albums. The term shouty rock might be too simplistic but they are an audio force where everything meshes so tightly, from Adam Lazzara vocals right through to Matt O’Connell’s drums.

The challenge is to produce that on stage. And I’ve seen them do it.

All bands want to interlock their different elements but TBS on their game achieve it, especially on their early material.

The key has been O’Connell’s drumming, where he almost sounds like he’s playing a double drum kit as the guitars and dual vocal duties of Lazarra and John Nolan dance around.

At Oxford they were not quite there. Perhaps it was expectation but more likely this was the 14th date of a 17-gig tour around not just Britain but Europe as well.

And that will take a toll, especially on the raw vocal style of Lazarra.

The man puts his throat through it on most songs and that’s not going to last over three weeks.

That doesn’t mean it was a bad gig but they didn't quite cook on every number as I’ve seen them before.

It was definitely in them, though. The personal highlight of the night was You’re So Last Summer from their first album, a stark lyric of anguished love, mid-set.

But then within a couple of songs My Blue Heaven seemed really disjointed.

Perhaps it is age though. I’ve been following TBS for 10 years and their first two albums will always rank with me as their best, especially when they belt out something like A Decade Under The Influence.

The Marmozets, a five-piece from Yorkshire, provided an interesting warm-up act. Far harder than TBS – with a touch of thrash about them – they were loud enough to vibrate your spectacles and are definitely one to watch.