This show started with the Start, who was actually a part of this tour and not a local opener. News to me, since I had no clue who they were before coming to the show. And, after hearing their set, I kind of know why I've never heard of them before and hopefully never will again. Though they are fronted by a female and the rest of the band is male (I think), the Start just didn't do anything for me. They're weren't energetic. They were just kind of there, playing their music. It was, in ways, very symbolic of what opening bands are meant to be-- simply there to open the show and not take anything away from the other bands. One of their songs started and I thought it was Enya or something along those lines of mood music, but it wasn't and probably was worse than if it really was. So needless to say, there is no more need to discuss the Start.
Coheed and Cambria played second, which was a good spot for them because once they hit the stage the show went very uphill. It's good to see them back and playing again. They opened with "Time Consumer", which I think they pretty much always open with now, but then they went straight into "Delirium Trigger", which is a bit of a hit for them. After that, their set consisted of the normal songs you hear from Coheed if you've ever seen them live, which is basically "Devil in Jersey City" and their closer, "Everything Evil". However, they also threw in the song "Neverender", which is one of my favorite songs on "Second Stage Turbine Blade", and just further proves my theory that the second half of that album maybe- just maybe- better than the first (even though the first half usually gets all of the attention) Coheed and Cambria was also very well received, with many people moving around and the such and almost damn near the whole floor singing along. The only problem I heard was that the backing vocals (i.e. mics not directly in front of frontman Claudio Sanchez) seemed to produce little or no sound at all. That's not their fault though, someone at the place just screwed up the levels I guess.
Up next was one of my all time favorite bands, Thrice. They opened with "Kill Me Quickly", the first song on their latest CD, "the Illusion of Safety". They banged out tons of other classics, from both "the Illusion of Safety" and their prior release, "Identity Crisis". Going through the title track of "Identity Crisis" (a sure crowd pleaser) and the likes of "Trust", "See You in the Shallows", "Deadbolt", "Betrayal is a Symptom", "Where Idols Once Stood" and "In Years to Come" off of "the Illusion of Safety", Thrice closed the whole set out with the almighty "To Awake and Avenge the Dead". It wasn't the same without Mike Minnick, but what can you do? Thrice was also an equal opportunist band, as they often let the crowd sing parts of the songs instead. Their backing vocals worked a little bit, but not to their full extent. This was definitely the part of the show when the entire floor opened up and more people seemed to be singing along than not.
Hot Water Music ended out the show, as headlining bands usually do. They played a nice mix of everything and actually rock pretty hard live still. They played one of my old favorites- "Rooftops"- as well as a few songs off of their newest release "Caution", which included the title track, "Remedy" and "Not For Anyone". I was kind of upset that of the new songs- off of "Caution" that is- they didn't play "Alright For Now", one of my favorites off the new CD. You could tell this was the band that the crowd had waited for and they surely delivered. Even coming back for an encore and doing two more songs.
There are actually two really weird running themes to this show. First, between Coheed and Cambria and Thrice, I swear someone in the band said "We have two left" before playing three more songs, and then they'd mention it again before the actual they closed with. The other theme was plugging the hell out of "Caution". Not only did Hot Water Music mention it repeatedly (which isn't to the surprise of anyone, whenever bands put out new CDs they usually make you rather aware of it), but also Thrice gave it a plug. That, to me, was very weird, as if Thrice didn't have anything of their own to plug or something.
-Nacho
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