The shrill, pre-pubescent screams from a throng of teenage girls that echoed off the walls of the Palladium Ballroom on Sunday night could only mean one thing: live radio hits produced from unkempt all-male pop/rock bands.

While one band played their hearts out while juxtaposing swing microphones and harmonic vocals, the other swore a lot and make everyone feel uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable.

Let's start with the uncomfortable and get it out of the way.

"I think I just made out with a 15-year-old," Tyson Ritter, All-American Rejects front man and bassist, said after jumping into the audience and asking who wanted a kiss during "Mona Lisa," an acoustic ditty from the band's third album.

That about summed up the night for the Rejects. While the remaining three-fourths of the band played their hearts out, Ritter gallivanted around the stage, swore like it was going out of style, and posed for camera-phone photos instead of focusing on the task at hand: playing music for the masses.

Ritter was shirtless and his demeanor was frail. But the big-city look on the corn-fed country boy didn't stop there (and you wish it did). Ritter virtually ruined every song, made fun of Deep Ellum and referred to Dallas as "Houston" on several occasions (but the vocals were so muddied in the mix, few heard the mistake).

Taking the stage to Grand Funk Railroad's "We're An American Band" (Get it? Get it!?), the band had one shining moment, an extended outro to "I'm Waiting" where the pop principles were ditched and the foursome jammed for a good two minutes.

All in all, those pop songs you hear on the radio just mask the ugliness that was AAR on this night. Stillwater, Okla., wouldn't be proud to call the Rejects theirs after this show.

Now the fun part of the night.

Long Island, N.Y., screamo/emo band Taking Back Sunday treated the audience to a 55-minute set of songs encompassing selections from all four of its albums and let the crowd surfing reign supreme throughout the set.

From the opening riff of "Cute Without the 'E' (Cut From the Team)," the six-piece band blazed through 13 songs and interacted with the band in a positive, heartwarming fashion. Lead singer Adam Lazzara asked - he didn't demand - the fans to sing along if they knew the words and said the Dallas show was the "best of the tour."

Lazzara also pointed out he had friends and family in the crowd and that several soldiers from Fort Hood were at the show as well - an announcement that had everyone standing and applauding for the troops.

Taking Back Sunday may not have the commercial success the likes of the All-American Rejects, but they have enough manners to cover both bands.

Anberlin, a six-piece screamo band from Florida, opened up the night with a 25-minute set. Front man Stephen Christian spent a good amount of time running around the stage, standing on monitors and telling the crowd to "get up." And it worked.

The crowd hung on Christian's every word gave every song (which all sounded like power ballads on steroids) a rousing ovation. The highlight of Anberlin's set was a cover of New Order's "True Faith." While the masses may not have known the song, they likely downloaded it when they got home.

High point: Taking Back Sunday
They should have headlined the night. They had more power, better songs (though less radio presence) and held the fans in the palm of their hands all night. Lazzara treated the crowd like it wanted to be treated, with dignity and respect.

Low point: Tyson Ritter
People who says Britney Spears is the reason young girls dress and act they way they do are wrong. I think it's men (and I use the term "men" loosely here) like Tyson Ritter who encourage young girls to act the way they do. Early in the set, Ritter asks "all the females" in the audience who wanted to "get in his pants tonight." I would have loved to see the reactions of all the parents in the Palladium throughout the night. Note to self: If you ever have kids, don't let them see the All-American Rejects live. The album will suffice.

Setlists

All-American Rejects

Move Along
Fallin' Apart
Dirty Little Secret
Top of the World
My Paper Heart
I Wanna
I'm Waiting
Swing, Swing
Mona Lisa (When the World Comes Down)
Real World
It Ends Tonight
Damn Girl
The Last Song

Taking Back Sunday

Cute Without the "E" (Cut From the Team)
Sink Into Me
What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?
Where You Want To Be
You're So Last Summer
Carpathia
One-Eighty By Summer
My Blue Heaven
Lonely, Lonely
A Decade Under the Influence ->
(Single Ladies)
Liar
Error: Operator
MakeDamnSure