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Chris Carrabba has performed live for more than 15 years, but this summer's tour is his favorite one yet.

The lead singer of Dashboard Confessional is overjoyed at getting to tour with rock bands such as Taking Back Sunday and Saosin in what he describes as a rolling summer camp.

"It's like the old, old days when every band member onstage was watching every other band with respect," he said. "Now we do that and think, 'Isn't it fun to still be fans of bands we are friends of now?' It makes us put on a better performance to watch all these great bands."

Carrabba said he has long been a fan of Taking Back Sunday, but they have never toured together before. Much like Dashboard's joint tour with Third Eye Blind last year, Carrabba said he hopes this year's show — the Taste of Chaos Tour hitting Saltair on Thursday, July 7 — will introduce new fans to all the groups performing.

"Every show is a mixed bag of old and new fans," he said. "The fact we haven't lost our original audience is incredible to me."

The 2015 tour was the first time the fans had heard Carrabba's soulful lyrics in about five years as he ventured off to sing for a new band called Twin Forks. He said Dashboard has practiced three times a week since last summer to ensure the group is putting on a great show.

"I feel like we owe them so much. If they let us go away and let us come back, they deserve for us to be the best band," he said. "They've made a career for us. I don't know how or why they chose us. It's a glorious mystery to me."

Fans will soon hear new music from the group. Carrabba said he has drafted 30 songs for Dashboard, and a new album should drop sometime soon.

While he wrote those songs before the contentious presidential primary season started, he said he has never been more disillusioned by politics than he is right now.

"There is lots of uproar about social issues with worthwhile points of debate, but things have gotten loud and ugly," he said. "The new American discourse is angry, belittling conflict, and I long for the days of intellectual discourse where you have people with polar-opposite points of view finding the middle ground."

He hopes, though, that people can come to the show and just have a great night of fun together.

And he wants to connect with fans at the show, too.

"If you come early and you see a guy that looks like me who is milling about, it is me, and I'd love to see you," he said. "If you see me, please come say hi. I love to meet the people who listen to the music we play. It gives me a chance to say thank you." —

Taste of Chaos Tour

Dashboard Confessional, Taking Back Sunday, Saosin and the Early November

When • Thursday, July 7, 6:30 p.m.

Where • Saltair, 12408 W. Saltair Drive, Magna

Tickets • $50.95 in advance, $55 day of; parking is $5 cash only; Smith's Tix