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A Great Evening's Entertainment
26 Aug 2008, 17:15
Thu 21 Aug – Thrice, We Are The Ocean, Twin Atlantic
I enjoyed this gig thoroughly.
Starting with Twin Atlantic, they were ok. Some interesting moments but pretty by numbers and not much inspiring here. I did like that the singer seemed to keep his Glaswegian accent whilst singing. Where I think they did slip up quite largely, was by having one of the guitarists constantly playing while the frontman addressed the crowd. I personally could barely hear a word he said! I think he said something like "Are you having a good time?" near the start of the set to which he got very little response (presumably because noone had heard what he said!) and he proceeded to call us all assholes or something like that for not responding to something I, for one, hadn't heard! Can't say I was too impressed with that move and I don't think it won him any love or new fans. He did apologise later though. I think that a band that is insulting to people who are, or are to become their fans is ungrateful and foolish when their fanbase is as small as it is.
However, musically, they're talented enough, sounding a little like a more Indie and less interesting Coheed and Cambria or Circa Survive. Quite listen to-able, and perforemed with energy and talent, but quite forgettable.
Year Long Disaster were BRILLIANT! I can see why people think they're an odd choice, being a sort of hard rock, late 70s influenced blues/rock band similar in spirit to Down or Black Stone Cherry - but they do rock hard! Thrice have been showcasing more of their bluesier stuff on the Earth volume, and can do heavy yet intricate music as Illusion and Artist have shown. YLD are undeniably talented musicians, much like Thrice. Technically they were great. Being only a 3-piece, it was easy to hear exactly what each instrument was doing and each instrument was very well played. I suspect the drummer has had some jazz training. The lead singer was appropriately rock and roll, channelling a little bit of Marc Bolan swagger into his performance. I've never heard these guys before but found it impossible to stand still to their music. Very raunchy rock music. Not like Thrice at all but it did make for a more rounded gig experience. And as someone else has commented, I'd rather have that than 2 support acts that are just lesser versions of the main act. It gets quite wearing.
Thrice were very good and did a great gig but I will say they seemed less energetic than I expected. I saw them once before about 3 years ago (I think... it was sometime between The Artist in the Ambulance and Vheissu but they weren't showcasing any Vheissu tracks) in a smaller venue, and they had more energy and seemed much more lively, as they do on most of their older gig videos. Maybe they've just grown up a bit and mellowed with it, as has their music.
Musically they were spot on and it was very interesting seeing how they recreated a lot of the electronic bits of the Alchemy Index on tracks like Digital Sea and The Whaler.
My main gripe - I woulda liked more of the stuff from Illusion Of Safety and Artist and possibly even a track from Identity Crisis. They only played Deadbolt from my favourite album, Illusion and just 3 from Artist (not including Dustin Kensrue'ssolo
Stare at the Sun because I don't think that was planned in the setlist) and I personally think Bloodclots and Black Holes, Don't Tell and We Won't Ask, and Cold Cash and Colder Hearts are better tracks from that album than the ones they chose and would have been better here. I may be in a minority of favouring those albums, but I think Thrice could've done a better job of spanning their career. All that said, I was very happy with what they did play, including a few surprises like Red Sky and The Earth Isn't Humming. The crowd were definitely with them and they did an admirable show. Dustin's solo version of Stare at the Sun was a real lighters in the air moment as everyone sung along with him and it was great that the Dustin and band didn't let the technical hitch didn't interrupt the evening's entertainment.
I enjoyed this gig thoroughly.
Starting with Twin Atlantic, they were ok. Some interesting moments but pretty by numbers and not much inspiring here. I did like that the singer seemed to keep his Glaswegian accent whilst singing. Where I think they did slip up quite largely, was by having one of the guitarists constantly playing while the frontman addressed the crowd. I personally could barely hear a word he said! I think he said something like "Are you having a good time?" near the start of the set to which he got very little response (presumably because noone had heard what he said!) and he proceeded to call us all assholes or something like that for not responding to something I, for one, hadn't heard! Can't say I was too impressed with that move and I don't think it won him any love or new fans. He did apologise later though. I think that a band that is insulting to people who are, or are to become their fans is ungrateful and foolish when their fanbase is as small as it is.
However, musically, they're talented enough, sounding a little like a more Indie and less interesting Coheed and Cambria or Circa Survive. Quite listen to-able, and perforemed with energy and talent, but quite forgettable.
Year Long Disaster were BRILLIANT! I can see why people think they're an odd choice, being a sort of hard rock, late 70s influenced blues/rock band similar in spirit to Down or Black Stone Cherry - but they do rock hard! Thrice have been showcasing more of their bluesier stuff on the Earth volume, and can do heavy yet intricate music as Illusion and Artist have shown. YLD are undeniably talented musicians, much like Thrice. Technically they were great. Being only a 3-piece, it was easy to hear exactly what each instrument was doing and each instrument was very well played. I suspect the drummer has had some jazz training. The lead singer was appropriately rock and roll, channelling a little bit of Marc Bolan swagger into his performance. I've never heard these guys before but found it impossible to stand still to their music. Very raunchy rock music. Not like Thrice at all but it did make for a more rounded gig experience. And as someone else has commented, I'd rather have that than 2 support acts that are just lesser versions of the main act. It gets quite wearing.
Thrice were very good and did a great gig but I will say they seemed less energetic than I expected. I saw them once before about 3 years ago (I think... it was sometime between The Artist in the Ambulance and Vheissu but they weren't showcasing any Vheissu tracks) in a smaller venue, and they had more energy and seemed much more lively, as they do on most of their older gig videos. Maybe they've just grown up a bit and mellowed with it, as has their music.
Musically they were spot on and it was very interesting seeing how they recreated a lot of the electronic bits of the Alchemy Index on tracks like Digital Sea and The Whaler.
My main gripe - I woulda liked more of the stuff from Illusion Of Safety and Artist and possibly even a track from Identity Crisis. They only played Deadbolt from my favourite album, Illusion and just 3 from Artist (not including Dustin Kensrue'ssolo
Stare at the Sun because I don't think that was planned in the setlist) and I personally think Bloodclots and Black Holes, Don't Tell and We Won't Ask, and Cold Cash and Colder Hearts are better tracks from that album than the ones they chose and would have been better here. I may be in a minority of favouring those albums, but I think Thrice could've done a better job of spanning their career. All that said, I was very happy with what they did play, including a few surprises like Red Sky and The Earth Isn't Humming. The crowd were definitely with them and they did an admirable show. Dustin's solo version of Stare at the Sun was a real lighters in the air moment as everyone sung along with him and it was great that the Dustin and band didn't let the technical hitch didn't interrupt the evening's entertainment.
