Large multi-bill concerts, such as The Rockstar Taste of Chaos Tour at Arco Arena on Feb. 23, require due patience and a strong will. The patience is not for braving mosh-pits or long concession lines. No, the patience and will are required for sitting through acts of no-name bands that are often met with little more than a yawn and head nod. The lead singer of Aiden, Wil Francis, probably put it best: Usually during these type of shows you have to sit through a bunch of bands you don’t care about to get to the ones you do.

Being a big fan of The Used and Senses Fail, I was excited to see them live for the first time. Co-headliner 30 Seconds to Mars dropped out of the show because of an unspecified illness to lead singer Jared Leto, so that only meant more time for the bands I came to see.

Unfortunately, I had to sit through the boring blur of bands such as Chiodos, Evaline, Saosin and, to a lesser degree, Aiden.

Francis sure had the theatrics down to be a qualified front man, but some of his tricks were old ones. Certainly the tired microphone cord acrobatics, complete with faux “choking myself” action, have been retired now, right?

Ah, but let’s not forget that Aiden wasn’t playing to a jaded concert veteran as myself. They were playing to a crowd of pre-teen, emo neophytes who are just now discovering that eyeliner isn’t just for girls and neither are skinny jeans. So, maybe some stage shenanigans are being burned into fresher corneas than mine.

Aiden also fell victim to shameless crowd pandering. At one point Francis implored fans to furnish their lighters and cell-phone screens to provide an intimate imitation feeling during one of the bands lighter toned songs, whereas The Used got that response without even asking for it, making the gesture feel more genuine.

I’m not going to just bash Aiden entirely. On the contrary, I enjoyed many of their songs. I just wish to have seen them when they get a little bigger so they don’t have to rely on gimmicks to fill their set. Singers Bert McCracken of The Used and Buddy Nielsen of Senses Fail relied less on chatting and more on singing, letting the songs speak for them. Senses Fail played a rollicking set that included high energy staple “Rum is for drinking, not for burning.”

The band also mixed in new material from last year’s release, “Still Searching,” without completely putting the audience to sleep because of limited song exposure.

The highlight of the evening had to be The Used. McCracken unleashed his vocal onslaught to the Arco crowd and rarely let up the entire evening (save for one acoustic song). They played the hits “The Taste of Ink” and “All That I’ve Got,” among others and they played new songs that were just as good as their old material such as “Paralyzed” and “Handsome Awkward.” McCracken even did a buddy-buddy duet with Francis on “A Box of Sharp Objects.”

Tours like Rockstar Taste of Chaos skew to a young audience with their decidedly adult-themed music with bands just indie enough to make you feel cool for being there, but just corporate enough (free Rockstar samples anyone?) to make you wish you saw them on a smaller, club and theater based tour.

Frank Miller can be reached at [email protected]