LIVE REVIEW: Thrice @ O2 Kentish Town Forum, London

Nostalgia is big business these days, with some of the scene’s formative records celebrating big anniversaries and plenty of yours to celebrate them. Case in point: post-hardcore legends THRICE didn’t settle for a remaster of their classic The Artist In The Ambulance but rerecorded it fully, faithfully recreating it with a new lick of paint and some special guests. Along with that, they’ve embarked on a huge tour, and the UK leg boasts one of the UK’s most underrated, brilliant bands in PALM READER.

The Nottingham outfit acquit themselves as brilliantly as ever, opening with the arresting Hold/Release from 2020’s phenomenal Sleepless, before calling back to Braille with the electrifying Internal Winter. Fortunately there’s a solid turnout by the time they step onstage, with more than a few slack jaws in the front rows. Since expanding to a seven piece, PALM READER have only gotten even better, an all-encompassing wall of sound that’s melodic, cathartic and bruisingly heavy when they choose to be. “We’ve been kicking around for a minute,” vocalist Josh Mckeown grins of their time spent in the underground before the intense Willow is unfurled and twists and turns between lumbering post metal and gorgeous alt rock. There’s a wry humour to them, Mckeown quipping “this one’s for the aging hardcore kids” before Stay Down or “anyone else feeling old” afterwards. They get a rapturous reception, one they thoroughly deserve after such an arresting set that establishes an extremely high watermark for the night. 

Rating: 9/10

Haze is swirling on the stage long before THRICE come on to deafening cheers, the light stands placed earlier the only illumination initially. The second Cold Cash And Colder Hearts kicks in, all bets are off as the crowd scream back the words and the floor heaves with bodies in swirling pits. The crowd almost drown out Dustin Kensrue, roaring back the songs they’ve loved for two decades, the songs they’ve grown up with. The love for The Artist In The Ambulance is never more clear than in those moments, as several thousand people move and sing as one. The quartet themselves sound outrageously good, a camaraderie forged over decades as they explored and expanded their musical bounds together. This is no mere nostalgia tour though; not only did they bring one of the UK’s best current bands, but The Artist… has just as much vitality as it did twenty years ago. 

THRICE themselves have that same vitality, as the second half of their set proves; rather than resting on their laurels they became chameleons, constantly experimenting with their sound. They pull from across their storied catalogue, from throwing it back to The Illusion Of Safety, or modern stunner Horizons/East with The Dreamer to their elemental themed Alchemy Index EPs (Firebreather). It’s all delivered with the same enthusiasm and energy, the crowd going just as nuts for the new as the old. The light show too is, frankly, spectacular. Those light stands flit between colours, strobing white and more, the patterns adding a whole new dimension to the lighting rig’s own display. The band are often part silhouetted by them, with the overall effect being a dazzling feast for the senses.

They close, of course, with a one-two punch from Vheissu, that sends the crowd into throes of ecstasy one final time before they file out into the cold night. THRICE prove yet again why they’ve remained such an essential, jaw-dropping band. 

Rating: 10/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in London from Anne Pfalzgraf here:

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