LIVE REVIEW: Coheed And Cambria & Thrice @ O2 Academy, Birmingham
As party-goers head to bars and clubs in Birmingham’s city centre, music fans gather at the O2 Academy for one of the most stacked rock lineups of the year. This epic co-headliner sees post-hardcore legends THRICE team up with prog megastars COHEED AND CAMBRIA on their album run for the triumphant Vaxis II: A Window Of The Waking Mind.
Tonight’s openers are melodic hardcore group TOUCHÉ AMORÉ, a curious choice for what is ostensibly a night of prog-rock. Despite their differences in genre, it takes the LA outfit just 2 minutes and 50 seconds to win over the audience, as they thrash out the opener from their 2020 album Lament.
Come Heroine wakes up the crowd, before New Halloween and Rapture from the 2016 masterpiece Stage Four kicks their butts into gear. The highlight of their set is the opener from Parting The Sea Between Brightness and Me – 90 seconds of pure angst that summons every hardcore kid and TOUCHÉ oldhead to the barrier for an epic singalong.
Rating: 8/10
Tonight’s first co-headliner, THRICE, hit the stage in a flurry of strobe lights, hailing the arrival of some true post-hardcore legends. THRICE don’t waste any time with intros, kicking straight into the thunderous The Color of the Sky from their latest LP Horizons/East. Another track from the 2021 release is followed up with an oldie – The Artist in the Ambulance, which gets just about every millennial metalhead moving.
As the band move seamlessly into the huge riffs of Black Honey, THRICE seem utterly unstoppable. The setlist does hit a lull in the second half, however. A tendency towards slower fare like the mournful Dandelion Wine kills the pace, despite the band’s impeccable playing. As chatter rises over the soft instrumental interludes it’s clear that THRICE have lost the audience.
THRICE’s vast and diverse catalogue has earned them a dedicated hardcore fanbase, but with more in attendance here for COHEED AND CAMBRIA, the self-indulgent setlist does little to win over any new fans and the absence of hits like Deadbolt is felt. This misalignment with the audience is becoming a recurring problem for THRICE on their UK visits, taking away from an otherwise strong performance.
Rating: 7/10
The audience erupts as COHEED AND CAMBRIA stride on stage, indicating that tonight’s true main event have arrived. Claudio Sanchez’s larger-than-life personality fills the room as the prog rock legends kick into the mighty Dark Sentencer. The almost eight-minute epic raises fists throughout the packed venue, with the refrain of “welcome home” building anticipation for yet more greatness to come.
The band then rattle through a number of hits from their latest album, all of which slap, with the possible exception of the synth-driven pop tune A Disappearing Act, which doesn’t quite translate in the live setting. This string of new material is followed up by the truly anthemic title track from the legendary In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3. This seven-minute anthem unites the crowd in its furious warcries of “man your own jackhammer! Man your battle stations!” as the frontman bounds around the stage wielding his guitar like a fully charged plasma cannon.
The one-two punch of A Favor House Atlantic and Welcome Home sets the crowd alight. The former sets a party atmosphere, while the latter sees Sanchez demonstrate his showmanship as he pulls out that signature double-necked axe and begins some audacious behind-the-head shredding. Although Coheed leave the fans hungry for more, the encore of The Running Free is a joyous end to a night of world-class rock music.
Rating: 9/10
Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Birmingham from Max Adams
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