Coheed and Cambria
Palladium Ballroom
April 29, 2010
Better than: "Slappin da bass" or any other potential live offering ever attempted by Rush.
All work and no play definitely makes Coheed and Cambria anything but dull. From the opening chords of their set Thursday night to the very last note played at the end of their encore, the band never let anything distract them from putting on a show.
Opening with "The Broken" off of their recently released Year of the Back Rainbow, Coheed set the tone for an hour an a half of rock music that never came close to losing the audience's attention.
Weaving tracks from their previous four studio albums in between the
more mature (albeit less catchy) numbers from their new disc, Coheed
wasted no time addressing the audience or narrating the post-apocalyptic
concept that runs the gamut of their discography.
The first 20 minutes or so of the set were spent on lesser-known
tracks from Black Rainbow, and, even still, the energy emanating from the
stage was only surpassed from the energy coming off of the audience.
That energy, from both band and crowd, hit fever pitch mid-way through
the set when frontman Claudio Sanchez and Co. launched into "Three Evils (Embodied in
Love and Shadow)."
Sanchez spent the bridges between verses head-banging and
running back and forth on stage, challenging the almost packed house of
moshing, crowd-surfing fans which spanned every age, race, and gender
demographic imaginable. Later on in the set, when he switched out
his electric for an acoustic guitar, pulled back his massively curly
coif, and serenaded the crowd with "Pearl of the Stars," the audience
responded with a bevy of lighters and comparable lit cell phone screens
to slow the show down, even if only for a minute.
The crescendo of the night came towards the end as the band played
favorites, "No World For Tomorrow", "A Favor House Atlantic", and the
final song of the regular set, the title track off of their second
album, "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth." With each consecutive song,
the entire crowd seemed to move as one, their fervent singalongs
almost drowning out Sanchez's vocals.
Perhaps one of the only criticisms of the show comes in the scenery: The
stage lighting bathed the band in a fitting glow; yet, for this tour, the
band mysteriously abandoned their usual dragonfly backdrop, instead
relying on a distracting video reel of what appeared to be '80s-esque,
campy horror and science fiction images that flashed across the 10
raised video screens.
After the set came to a close, the band finally returned to the stage, after emphatic chants from the
crowd, for a three-song encore, the high point of which was their
biggest hit to date, "Welcome Home." At that point, bassist Michael Todd
finally took a break long enough to thank the crowd for coming out and
for their persistent support of the band.
With that, they quartet
launched "2113" and flew through the 9-minute long track to end the
show.
Critic's notebook
Personal Bias: I discovered Coheed and Cambria in the 11th grade and
from then on, they may or may not be one of my top five favorite bands (OK,
maybe they're number one...).
By The Way: Openers Torche and Circa Survive offered interesting sets.
Torche was predictably as hard-core as their studio offerings suggest
and their fans were in no way disappointed with their output. Circa
Survive was a more interesting act to behold: Frontman Anthony Green had
a overwhelming amount of energy on stage--so much to the point that I was
sure he was having an apoplectic fit. And even though a
certain amount of his lyrics were undecipherable, it was apparent that
the band was there to put on a show.
Random Note: After a pretty decent history of summers spent at Warped
Tour and a host of numerous other emo/punk/rock shows, I have never seen
so many people leave a rock show so drenched in sweat in my life. To
that end, these bands really should encourage their fans to invest in
some deodorant.
