They say you should always leave your audience wanting more, and the phenomenal Coheed and Cambria / Thrice double headliner at Bristol’s O2 Academy did just that.
Before the headlining prog gods took to the stage, Touché Amoré treated the audience to a superb set that no doubt made them plenty of new fans (myself included).
Mixing driving guitars, urgent, pleading vocals and pounding drums, Touché Amoré served up melodic hardcore reminiscent of mewithoutYou mixed with licks like the Pixies and even hints of the Cure with crunchy, Robert Smith-style guitars brought to the fore during Limelight.
Addressing the slowly growing crowd and their small group of fans kicking up a storm in the middle of the pit, lead singer Jeremy Bolm thanked the audience for being here early, (It’s only 7pm, and their set is almost over.)
Before Touché Amoré bowed out with high-energy banger Flowers and You, Bolm said of perennial touring buddies Thrice: “They live an hour from us, and we went 15 years not playing with them. Now it seems we’re on every tour with them.”
Next up were Californian Rockers Thrice, with an astounding set that seemed to track the band’s evolution from skatepunk pioneers to the bluesy prog rock masters we know today.
Thrice opened with the dreamlike The Colour of the Sky from their latest album, Horizons /East. The band then transitioned into the heavy, driving guitars of Scavengers.
Thrice’s newer sound is almost transcendental at times, with souring guitars and perfectly timed drops buoyed by frontman Dustin Kensrue’s powerful, refined, and mesmerising vocal stylings.
That doesn’t mean we don’t like hearing the old stuff too, and Thrice didn’t disappoint as The Artist in the Ambulance kicked off the night’s first big sing-along.
Thrice’s seismic shift in style and tone is impressive, and the band can do it on a dime as they break out Black Honey before plunging back into a duo of fierce hardcore tracks from The Illusion of safety, an album Kensrue reminds us is 20 years old, (God I feel old.)
Though it’s true Thrice has mellowed, they can still kick ass when they want to, pivoting from raw fury to zen-like calm in three and a half minutes.
The band’s recent tracks feel like their most grand and ephemeral to date: They pick you up and whisk you away to faraway places. You can almost feel the rejuvenating warmth of Dandelion Wine chase away the cold of winter, or the wind whip against your face as rising waves and torrents of water, demolish homes in the apocryphal Hurricane.
Bowing out with The Earth Will Shake, Thrice left the stage on a high, and everyone in the audience floored.
Finally, Coheed took to the stage to rapturous cheers from the crowd. Although it was supposed to be a co-headlining tour, in the eyes of the audience at least, this was very much a Coheed and Cambria gig.
The New York prog gods set showcased tracks from their latest album Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind, with a light sprinkling of hits that left most of their discography unrepresented. However, with a repertoire full of classics like Coheed, I could understand how simply picking what to play each show is a Herculean task.
Coheed was in fine form as they Blasted through the heady heights and dizzying lows of The Dark Sentencer, the opening track to Heavenly Creatures, the first part of Coheed’s latest intergalactic opus.
Next up was a medley of tracks from Vaxis II, including the uplifting Beautiful Losers, the Sublime Shoulders and A Disappearing Act. A fun synthpop-infused number that, although still definitely a Coheed track, is very different to the guitar-based heroics that makes up most of their oeuvre. It went down well, but seeing Claudio put down his trusty Gibson Explorer and head to a keyboard is something I don’t think anyone ever expected to see live.
Next up was In Keeping Secrets – hearing those first couple waltzy notes, the place erupts, the pit shifts into high gear and everyone is going nuts – Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria. You could probably have heard the crowd chanting in Newport.
The upbeat Liars Club kept the party going before A Favour House Atlantic saw fans flock to the pit to relive their youth to the classic track from 2003. ( Yes, it’s that old, and so are you)
Although, the highlight was apocalyptic fan favourite Welcome Home, which rocked the packed venue to its foundations as frontman Claudio Sanchez stomped across the stage with his double-necked Gibson that is almost as iconic as the beloved track.
Coheed then ended their set with Window of the Waking Mind. An epic, operatic closer is as flamboyant as it is brilliant. I almost expected to see a chorus line of roadies can-can across the stage by the end of it.
And that was it. With ten minutes to curfew, fans waited for the encore. But there was no encore. Then the house lights came on, the drumkit dismantled, and the audience was pissed. The sound of booing reached the rafters, and the security was uneasy. It felt like we were seconds away from a riot.
Then Coheed came back on stage, not to play, but to explain there would be no encore. Claudio stated: “Just so you know, this is a co-headlining tour, so there’s no encore, but we appreciate this and thank you all for coming out”.
If Coheed had just extended their set by two songs, people wouldn’t have cared. They may have just misjudged it because they were being kicked out early by the venue. Whatever the reasons, it’s a bad look that left many fans feeling disappointed.
It’s a shame because otherwise, it was exceptional. A night of live music brought to you by masters of their craft.
The Coheed and Cambria / Thrice tour head to London’s Brixton Academy tonight (16/10), then Manchester Academy on Tuesday (18/10), Nottingham Rock City on Wednesday (19/10), and Glasgow’s Galvanizers on Thursday (20/10). Tickets are available in all the usual places.