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Thursday / Converge / Touche Amore / Lewd Acts @ Philadelphia 4/30/10

April 30, 2010

“I know with Thursday we’re supposed to be this sad emo band, but we want you guys to have fun at our concerts so we bring out bands like Converge,” a paraphrased Geoff Rickly said to the crowd in Philadelphia’s Trocadero Theatre on a warm April night. It wasn’t just Converge, though, that Rickly was referring to; openers Lewd Acts and Touche Amore both play a style of music not readily associated to that of Thursday.

Lewd Acts

Lewd Acts kicked off the evening with a twenty-minute blast of non-stop intensity. The California four-piece tore through hardcore song after hardcore song, with frontman Tyler Densley spending half of the set jumping into the crowd, opening pits on the floor, or climbing onto the upper-level balcony. Clearly interested in exciting the small audience — only about a hundred people made it in time for their 7PM start — the band succeeded in pumping up the crowd for the next few acts.

Touche Amore

Touche Amore played next, sticking heavily to 2009′s To the Beat of a Dead Horse during their brief twenty-minute set. “Cadence” was particularly solid, and a brand new song from an upcoming split with La Dispute sounded promising. Closing with “Honest Sleep”, frontman Jeremy Bolm came into the crowd to sing along with a passionate group of fans who knew every word. It’s hard to imagine Touche Amore remaining a well-kept secret for long; expect them to be a household name in underground music fairly soon.

Converge

Hardcore/metal legends Converge took the stage at 8:30PM, with drummer Ben Koller laying down pummeling metal drums for the next hour. Despite a back-catalog that spans two decades, the Massachusetts natives stuck entirely to their post-millennium output, beginning with the excellent Jane Doe leadoff, “Concubine”. “Dark Horse” was punishing, but the string of No Heroes cuts including “Heartache” directly into “Hellbound” was exceptional. Axe to Fall contributed a bulk of the setlist, including the title track and “Wishing Well” into “Damages”.

Converge

Frontman Jacob Bannon raced around the stage for the duration of Converge’s hour-long set, encouraging anyone who knew the words to sing along, often offering the microphone out to those who got close enough. You Fail Me‘s “First Light” intro began the last part of Converge’s excellent setlist, with the commanding “The Broken Vow” from Jane Doe tossed into a mix of other You Fail Me cuts. “Last Light”, featuring pounding guitars and bass from Kurt Ballou and Nate Newton, respectively, closed out Converge’s solid performance.

Concubine
Dark Hose
Heartache
Hellbound
Lonewolves
Hanging Moon
No Heroes
Reap What You Sow
Cutter
Dead Beat
Orphaned
Axe to Fall
Wishing Well
Damages
First Light
Eagles Become Vultures
The Broken Vow
Dropout
Last Light

Thursday

Beginning with the brash “At this Velocity”, Thursday kicked off their setlist at 9:50PM. On drummer Tucker Rule’s cue, “Division St.” followed, with the entire crowd singing along. “Friends in the Armed Forces” was particularly urgent and well-performed, with Geoff Rickly passionately singing his pacifist beliefs. “For the Workforce, Drowning” — normally a rock-solid staple to the band’s live show — was disappointingly sloppy, with Rickly even skipping the song’s entire bridge.

Thursday

Full Collapse favorite “Paris in Flames” gave touring-bassist Lukas Previn his first bass solo of the tour; Previn more-than-adequately filled in for Tim Payne on bass, even adding a welcomed youthful demeanor to a band that often finds its guitarists stationary on stage. Thursday’s two “car crash songs” went back-to-back, an interesting but, after five years, totally predictable moment.

Thursday

“Beyond the Visible Spectrum” was a very welcomed addition to the setlist, and the band nailed the rarely performed song. Anchored by guitarist Steve Pedulla’s excellent hammering riffs, “Signals Over the Air” sounded great. Common Existence lead-off, “Resuscitation of a Dead Man”, was executed excellently and works much better in a live setting than it does in the studio.

Thursday

The next ten minutes found Thursday slowing things down, with keyboardist Andrew Everding leading the way on “Sugar in the Sacrament” and current single “Circuits of Fever”. Neither song is particularly worthwhile in a live setting, and it would have been a much more redeeming experience to have a different Common Existence track — “Subway Funeral”, originally on the printed setlist — instead of “Circuits of Fever”.

Thursday

Touche Amore’s Jeremy Bolm shared vocal duties with Rickly on “Jet Black New Year”; Thursday extended the song with Prince’s “1999″, as they have been doing for the last half-decade. “Autobiography of a Nation” wrapped up Thursday’s setlist with Rickly coming into the crowd and letting anyone within arms reach of the microphone sing along.

At this Velocity
Division St.
Friends in the Armed Forces
For the Workforce, Drowning
Paris in Flames
Understanding in a Car Crash
Other Side of the Crash/Over and Out (of Control)
Beyond the Visible Spectrum
Signals Over the Air
Resuscitation of a Dead Man
Sugar in the Sacrament
Circuits of Fever
Jet Black New Year
Autobiography of a Nation

Thursday

With the last-minute removal of the rarely seen “Subway Funeral”, Thursday’s song selection was as predictable as ever; the band has stuck to a similar setlist for each of their tours since the release of A City by the Light Divided in 2006. It hurts not to see more songs from Common Existence, such as the aforementioned “Subway Funeral” or “You Were the Cancer”, the latter of which is arguably one of the band’s best songs to date. A few missteps aside (such as guitarist Tom Keeley slipping off-key or Rickly leaving out blocks of lyrics), Thursday was fantastic and an absolute must-see live show for anyone who has yet to see the New Brunswick six-piece. For fans who catch the band on their routine trips around the New Jersey area, though, Thursday’s setlist is becoming stale. The band is set to hit the studio in June to record a followup to Common Existence with producer Dave Fridmann. Before they tour on that album, though, it would be great to see Thursday toss a handful of the rarely seen Common Existence cuts into a show somewhere along the way.

1 Comment | Converge, Lewd Acts, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Thursday, Touche Amore, Trocadero Theatre | Permalink
Posted by Anthony Charles Ambrose

Thursday / Glassjaw / The Dillinger Escape Plan / United Nations / The Casting Out @ Sayreville 12/30

December 30, 2009

Wrapping up an extremely busy year, Thursday grabbed some of their closest friends and scheduled December 30 for their near-annual holiday event. Since releasing Common Existence in February, the band has toured nonstop in support of that Epitaph Records debut, both in America and internationally. Returning home to Starland Ballroom for their first performance in Sayreville in two years, Thursday showed signs of fatigue but clearly remained on top of their game. In a room filled with some of the best live acts in underground rock–including the triumphant return of the much-lauded Glassjaw–Thursday still stood above their peers and showcased why they are considered a top-notch live band.

The Casting Out's Nathan Gray

Nathan Gray’s The Casting Out kicked the evening off with an explosive blend of melodic-hardcore and punk rock, running around the stage and doing their best to excite the sold-out club. Understanding that the crowd was crowd was mostly unaware of the band’s existence, Gray spent most of the set just enjoying the time on stage. The band stuck primarily to Go Crazy! Throw Fireworks! , their debut album issued on Failsafe Records, but also introduced a brand new unreleased cut as well. A strong live performance convinced me to pick up their lone full-length, and I’ll certainly be catching the Delaware natives live again soon.

Geoff Rickly with United Nations

On stage for the first of two performances of the evening, vocalist Geoff Rickly introduced United Nations. A side-project for the Thursday frontman, United Nations is the vehicle for Rickly to explore his inner hardcore-kid. Anchored by the extremely talented and mathematical drummer Ben Koller of Converge, United Nations tore through eight songs in less than half an hour. Beginning with a solid performance of “Revolutions in Graphic Design”, the band opened the first pits of the evening and didn’t look back; breakneck riffs by guitarist Lukas Previn frequently lead Rickly into a vocal frenzy on songs like “Resolution #9″.

Ben Koller with United Nations

Debuting a handful of new songs (at least one of which is confirmed for an upcoming 7″), United Nations played just their fourth show together as a band despite being a work in progress for nearly half the decade. With such little time spent together in practice space, it’s remarkable how tight United Nations executes on stage. Though at the venue, contributing guitarist Daryl Palumbo did not perform with United Nations. Joked Rickly when asked about Daryl’s absence, “he’s getting his hair did.” Before closing with “No Sympathy for a Sinking Ship”, Rickly announced that the band will be performing once again on January 15 at New York City’s Cake Shop; tickets are $15 including service fees. Including three brand new songs, the United Nations setlist follows:

Revolutions in Graphic Design
My Cold War
(New Song)
Resolution #9
(New Song)
Model UN
(New Song)
No Sympathy for a Sinking Ship

The Dillinger Escape Plan's Liam Wilson

Beginning with the brand new “Good Neighbor” (from the upcoming Option Paralysis), The Dillinger Escape Plan ripped apart Starland Ballroom for about forty-five minutes. Drawing across their three full-lengths, New Jersey five-piece brazenly changed time signatures, tempos, and keys with ease, though fans in the pit area likely missed out on the subtleties while dodging kicks–and flying band members, including guitarists Ben Weinman and Jeff Tuttle who launched into the crowd in unison midway through the set.

The Dillinger Escape Plan's Greg Puciato

Held together by newcomer drummer Billy Rhymer (who replaces the extremley talented Chris Pennie) and bassist Liam Wilson, The Dillinger Escape performed excellent versions of technical beasts from Ire Works including “Fix Your Face” and “Mouths of Ghosts”. Irony is a Dead Scene EP”s “When Good Dogs Do Bad Things” also made the setlist which apparently was supposed to end with another brand new cut from Option Paralysis, “Farewell, Mona Lisa”.

The Dillinger Escape Plan's Ben Weinman

Things turned strange when the house killed the PA just as The Dillinger Escape Plan kicked into fan-favorite “43% Burnt”. As Starland Ballroom turned on the lights and brought down the set-change curtain, the band continued to roll through the near five-minute song. Undeterred by the venue’s efforts to end the band’s set, frontman Greg Puciato pushed the curtain aside and encouraged more crowd-surfing and some of the night’s largest pits. When all was said and done, the band hurried offstage and to the dressing room. The band’s full set:

Good Neighbor
Panasonic Youth
Fix Your Face
Sugar Coated Sour
Milk Lizard
When Good Dogs Do Bad Things
Mouth of Ghosts
Sunshine the Werewolf
Farewell, Mona Lisa
43% Burnt

Glassjaw's Daryl Palumbo

With a finally-healthy-looking Daryl Palumbo leading the charge, Glassjaw began their set as Thursday’s direct support. “(You Think You’re) John Fucking Lennon”, presumably from their upcoming third full-length, went first; the enormous wallop of Worship and Tribute‘s “Tip Your Bartender” and “Mu Empire” back-to-back followed.

Glassjaw's Manny Carrero

It’s hard to imagine such complex music pulled off in a live environment with just one guitar and one bass, but guitarist Justin Beck and bassist Manny Carrero make it look easy. Locked in rhythm with drummer Durijah Lang, Carrero effortlessly contributes bass leads to Beck’s own guitar leads. “Pretty Lush” and “Siberian Kiss”, from the band’s 2000 debut, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence, received the warmest responses of the twelve-song set. With nearly an hour to work with, Glassjaw’s twelve-song setlist was extemely solid and rewarding. The full list:

Glassjaw setlist

(You Think You’re) John Fucking Lennon
Tip Your Bartender
Mu Empire
Star Above My Bed
Ape Dos Mil
The Gillette Cavalcade of Sports
Pink Roses
Jesus Glue
Pretty Lush
Two Tabs of Mescaline
Siberian Kiss
Babe

“Write these words back down,” screamed nearly two thousand fans as Thursday kicked off their setlist with Full Collapse‘s “Autobiography of a Nation” — an appropriate start to the evening, as it foreshadowed both emphasis on their 2001 album and also on crowd participation: exhausted from a year filled with touring and a set with United Nations just hours earlier, Rickly offered the crowd more parts to sing than normal.

Thursday's Tim Payne

Lead by Tim Payne’s driving bass line, staple “Otherside of the Crash/Over and Out (of Control)” was next. A pair of Full Collapse favorites followed, including “Understanding in a Car Crash”, which may have been in every Thursday setlist since 2001. Two somewhat-rare A City by the Light Divided cuts returned to the setlist: single “Counting 5-4-3-2-1″ returned for the first time since this spring’s Taste of Chaos Tour, and the atmospheric “Running from the Rain” made its first appearance of the year, though the vocals were unfortunately mixed too low to make out Rickly’s haunting words. A fairly lengthy thank you to Epitaph Records preceded the band’s first single on that label, “Resuscitation of a Dead Man”, which comes off much more fiery in a live environment.

Thursday's Tucker Rule

Dedicating the next song to “Snookie” and “The Situation” in his best impersonation of MTV’s Jersey Shore, Thursday kicked into the incendiary “At This Velocity”. Lead by Andrew Everding on keys, “Circuits of Fever” briefly calmed the crowd with its electronic introduction before Rickly unleashed impassioned vocal assaults, once again revitalizing the crowd’s energy. The song pushed drummer Tucker Rule to his limits as he gasped for air following the song’s pounding conclusion.

Thursday's Geoff Rickly

Long removed from the band’s standard bill of fare, “Standing on the Edge of Summer” was a nice surprise addition to the setlist. Rickly commented that although it’s cold (correction, Geoff, it was freezing) outside, the band would play the song as a way of celebrating time spent together even in less-than-desirable situations. “Cross Out the Eyes” was dedicated to Boysetsfire (Nathan Gray of The Casting Out’s previous band) as the band finished their set.

Thursday's Tom Keeley

Chants for more songs prompted the band’s reappearance, and Rickly wished everyone a happy New Year as guitarists Steve Pedulla and Tom Keeley ripped into the opening drop-D riffs of “Jet Black New Year”, the night’s final song. The full setlist, which unfortunately cut out four songs (likely due to Rickly feeling under the weather):

Thursday setlist

Autobiography of a Nation
Otherside of the Crash/Over and Out (of Control)
Paris in Flames
Understanding in a Car Crash
Counting 5-4-3-2-1
Running From the Rain
Resuscitation of a Dead Man
At this Velocity
Division St.
Circuits of Fever
Standing on the Edge of Summer
Signals Over the Air
Cross Out the Eyes
Jet Black New Year

In keeping with a career-long tradition of selecting only the finest bands as openers — a list that includes acts such as Thrice, Rise Against, Circa Survive, Lifetime, and Coheed and Cambria — Thursday’s support was extremely impressive and would have made for an excellent show even without the veteran headliners at the helm. Tossing the New Brunswick six-piece on top of the lineup, though, ices an already sweet cake and finishes 2009 with possibly the strongest bill of the entire year. Thursday’s plans to tour with Anberlin this spring have been scrapped, so it might be some time before the band hits the stage again; at least they closed the year, and indeed the decade, on one of the strongest notes of their career.

Setlist photos thanks to Brian C. Reilly. All photographs credit to Discard This Message Photography. Please visit their website for more amazing photos from the evening.

Leave a Comment » | Glassjaw, New Jersey, Sayreville, Starland Ballroom, The Casting Out, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Thursday, United Nations | Permalink
Posted by Anthony Charles Ambrose

Thursday / Far / Midnight Masses @ NYC 10/25

October 25, 2009

Eight years ago, Thursday issued Full Collapse on Victory Records. The sing-scream-sing/soft-heavy-soft formula wasn’t new to underground music in 2001, and Thursday didn’t invent a genre, but the band’s near-perfect execution on Full Collapse and its widespread distribution through the Chicago record label caused an immeasurable impact on underground rock for the next decade, with hundreds of bands forming in basements across the country, each with their own take on the Full Collapse sound. Drawing on a spectrum of influences (from Joy Division to Lifetime), Full Collapse proved that it didn’t take a great singer (vocalist Geoff Rickly struggled to remain in key for most of the record) or incredibly complex song structures to create an astounding album. To celebrate Full Collapse Thursday grabbed newly reformed Far and local act Midnight Masses and headed to the Lower East Side’s Bowery Ballroom.

Midnight Masses setlist

Midnight Masses opened the evening with a harmonious, acoustic chant before reaching for their instruments. An incredibly talented New York collective lead by Autry Fulbright (Dragons of Zynth, Shock Cinema), the band’s take on indie and soul sounded great across their nine song setlist. Each of the six members provided vocal harmonies, providing a luscious sonic blast that was both soothing and readily inspiring. Clearly drawing influence from acts like Nick Cave and Nina Simone, the band’s soulful, Gospel-eque sound was delightful; the full set can be found below. The band is set to release Rapture Ready, I Gazed At The Body EP in mid-November.

Heaven
Apocalypse
Sound of Sirens
Burial Song
Debtor’s Song
Preacher’s Son
Walk on Water
I Was a Desperate Man
Redemption Rain

Far setlist

Far performed next, their first show in New York City in nearly a decade. Fronted by the legendary forty-year old Jonah Matrangra (Onelinedrawing, New End Original, Gratitude), Far’s blend of drop-D distortion and non-stop energy was warmly received by a crowd all too eager to hear singalongs like “Man Overboard” and “Bury White”. In fact, much of the band’s set came from Water & Solutions, with Far playing nine of the album’s twelve tracks. “Job’s Eye” and “In the Aisle, Yelling” were welcomed throwbacks that found the band digging into their 1996 major label debut, Tin Cans With Strings To You.

For “Mother Mary”, Thursday’s Geoff Rickly joined Matranga to provide additional vocals; just five years earlier, Thursday performed a cover of the song at Hellfest, with Matranga providing guest vocals on the track. “The System” finished the band’s explosive set; the full list below:

Wear It So Well
I Like It
Water & Solutions
Man Overboard
Bury White
In the Aisle, Yelling
Waiting for Sunday
Really Here
Job’s Eyes
Mother Mary
The System

The soothing melody of “A0001″ and it’s brief, repeating lyrics (“We’ll all look the same someday, and even now the robot starts to think–I wonder what it dreams.”) filled Bowery Ballroom as Thursday walked on stage, finding the entire room in applause. It was time for the veteran New Jersey six-piece to perform Full Collapse–an album written by a young band still wet behind the ears.

Drummer Tucker Rule kicked off “Understanding in a Car Crash” with quick drum patter, joined immediately by the winding melodies of guitarists Steve Pedulla and Tom Keeley. Fairly uncommon “Concealer” followed, with keyboardist Andrew Everding providing Rickly with supporting vocals. “Autobiography of a Nation” was especially powerful, with the crowd exploding in unison at the song’s introductory climax: “Write these word’s back down!”

The first of three truly rare songs came next in the form of an excellent performance of “A Hole in the World”. “Cross Out the Eyes” and “Paris in Flames” receive solid treatment; “I am the Killer” was the night’s most emotional effort. The second in the trio of rarities was “Standing on the Edge of Summer”, a beautiful track about Rickly’s final days with his grandmother. Frank Giokas, credited in the Full Collapse liner notes for the guitar on the song, temporarily replaced Pedulla for the effort.

“We’ve come to the point of the album with the first song that really sucks,” said Rickly, introducing the third and final rare song, “Wind-Up”. He continued to talk about the track, stating that it was written for their debut Waiting but considered too weak of a song; it ended up on Full Collapse, Rickly recounted with a wide grin.

“How Long is the Night”, a story about Rickly’s struggle with insomnia, finished the Full Collapse portion of the evening with a bang. Possibly the album’s strongest moment, the song also epitomizes the band’s sound in 2001, a fitting end to the record. “i1100″ played through the PA as the band walked off stage.

“The Other Side of the Crash/Over and Out (Of Control)” kicked off the encore, and it became clear that bassist Tim Payne was enjoying the more complicated song structures of their material. Three Common Existence cuts followed beginning with “Beyond the Visible Spectrum”. The band offered a vote between lead-single “Resuscitation of a Dead Man” and should-be-single “Friends in the Armed Forces”, with the latter narrowly winning. “Circuits of Fever” was complemented with more than twenty giant balloons (last seen on the band’s Taste of Chaos tour) that continued to kick around for “Jet Black New Year”. “War All the Time” finished the evening. The full set:

Thursday setlist

Understanding in a Car Crash
Concealer
Autobiography of a Nation
A Hole in the World
Cross Out the Eyes
Paris in Flames
I am the Killer
Standing on the Edge of Summer
Wind-Up
How Long is the Night
The Other Side of the Crash/Over and Out (Of Control)
Beyond the Visible Spectrum
Friends in the Armed Forces
Circuits of Fever
Jet Black New Year
War All the Time

Thursday had been together (with some lineup changes) just a couple of years before releasing Full Collapse, an album that is largely a varied collection of power chords, simple octaves, drop-D tuning, and cranked distortion. The band has grown tremendously since album, but Full Collapse‘s lyrical beauty and stellar execution have allowed the album to age gracefully. In a live setting, few Thursday songs produce the immediacy and energy of Full Collapse‘s cuts, a testament to the record’s staying-power.

Thursday is set to tour briefly through the early part of the winter, culminating in a hometown holiday performance at the end of December in Sayreville, New Jersey’s Starland Ballroom. These annual holiday shows tend to bring out the best in the band, as they reach back into their catalog for older cuts and generally play their longest sets of the year. If the Full Collapse show was any indication, then the holiday show should be an incredible event not to be missed.

inTuneMusic is very interested in any submissions/corrections from this event including photographs, setlists, and audio/video. Please contact us, you will receive complete credit for any submission.

1 Comment | Bowery Ballroom, Far, Midnight Masses, New York, New York City, Thursday | Permalink
Posted by Anthony Charles Ambrose

Thursday / The Fall of Troy / Young Widows / Moving Mountains @ NYC 9/20

September 20, 2009

Thursday’s fall tour rolled into New York City on a chilly Sunday night in the Lower East Side with support from The Fall of Troy, Young Widows, Moving Mountains, and locals Kiss Kiss. The third date on a tour that extends until the end of October, the performances and setlists are quite similar to the first night of the tour in Philadelphia. This review is a brief supplement to the lengthy and detailed review of the September 18 date, so please read that first before continuing on.

Though Kiss Kiss opened the show, Moving Mountains was the first band I caught. The New York natives sounded excellent, reaching back to their 2007 debut, Pneuma, while also playing a large portion of new songs.

Young Widows began with “Took a Turn” and moved through Old Wounds, tossing in some brand new songs along the way. The band sounded good, receiving a fairly warm response from a crowd most certainly being introduced to the Kentucky trio for the first time.

The Fall of Troy performed well during their thirty minute set which found guitarist and frontman Thomas Erak frantically shredding through most of the band’s discography. Much like in Philadelphia, however, vocals took a backseat to Erak’s blazing guitar abilities.

The New Jersey six-piece took the stage next; on frontman Geoff Rickly’s queue, Thursday exploded with “For the Workforce, Drowning” and rolled through the first three War All the Time tracks. “Division St.” was dedicated to Ben Lazar, an Island Records staff member who pushed Thursday to write that song (and others, including “Signals Over the Air”), after feeling that War All the Time was initially incomplete.

A City by the Light Divided‘s lead-off (“The Other Side of the Crash/Over and Out (of Control)”) followed before a string of Full Collapse cuts found the band digging back to 2001. “The Lower East Side is a vector, a needle that we all must cross,” sang Rickly on “Paris in Flames”, echoing through the Lower East Side’s Bowery Ballroom.

Back-to-back politically charged anthems (“Autobiography of a Nation”, “Friends in the Armed Forces”) sparked Rickly to comment on America’s war (to which a fan responded “which one, we’re in four”, sparking a high-five from Rickly), and indeed America itself. Rickly explained that his love for America stems from Americans fighting for what they believe in, not blindly following every widely-accepted belief, and standing up against what is clearly wrong.

After an excellent performance of Common Existence‘s “Circuits of Fever”, the band finished the first part of their set with “Sugar in the Sacrament”, returning with “Love Has Led Us Astray” to begin their encore. During the band’s final song, “Jet Black New Year”, the crowd erupted and the stage was filled with stage dives and singalongs. The full set:

For the Workforce, Drowning
Between Rupture and Rapture
Division St.
The Other Side Of The Crash/Over and Out (of Control)
Paris in Flames
Understanding in a Car Crash
Autobiography of a Nation
Friends in the Armed Forces
Beyond the Visible Spectrum
Signals Over the Air
Circuits of Fever
Sugar in the Sacrament
Love Had Let Us Astray
Jet Black New Year

Bowery Ballroom fit the tour nicely, allowing an intimate performance with a strong house sound. In comparison to the band’s date just two days prior at First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia, the Bowery Ballroom sounded much better and allowed for more room and a less packed crowd. Thursday sounded great during their hour-long performance, but unfortunately played the exact same set as two nights before. The band returns to Bowery Ballroom on October 25 to perform Full Collapse.

1 Comment | Bowery Ballroom, Moving Mountains, New York, New York City, The Fall of Troy, Thursday, Young Widows | Permalink
Posted by Anthony Charles Ambrose

Thursday / The Fall of Troy / Young Widows / Moving Mountains @ Philadelphia 9/18

September 18, 2009

Professionally run, yet independently operated, R5 Productions books hundreds of underground shows per year, most occuring at Philadelphia’s First Unitarian Church. Affectionately known as one of the premier DIY venues in the tri-state area, in winter months the venue is ridiculously hot; all other times of the year, it borders on unbearable. On a September night that packed about four hundred kids into the church basement, the venue was most certainly the latter.

Purchase, New York’s Moving Mountains opened the show with their remarkable blend of post-rock and post-hardcore, drawing up equal comparisons to the atmospheric guitars of Explosions in the Sky and the brute force of Thrice. Frontman Gregory Dunn shares vocal and guitar duties with Frank Graniero while bassist Mitchell Lee and drummer Nicholas Pizzolato round out the band’s rhythm section. The band played a varied setlist, evenly combining songs from their 2007 debut Pneuma with new cuts, such as Foreword EP material. “Cover the Roots, Lower the Stems” received the warmest response, but indeed the band’s entire set sounded great.

Young Widows played next, opening with Nick Thieneman’s bass rumblings of “Took a Turn”. Formed in the ashes of mathcore outfit Breather Resister, the Kentucky trio seemed groggy and appeared to simply go through the motions for the duration of their set. That’s not to say they aren’t talented, however; guitarist and lead vocalist Evan Patterson just seemed out of it. Drummer Geoff Paton was a machine, though, pounding away through the band’s blend of post-hardcore. The band stuck heavily to their Temporary Residence Limited debut, 2008′s Old Wounds; for “The Guitar”, Patterson looped a riff to add layers to an otherwise simple song. The full set:

Young Widows's setlist

Took a Turn
Old Skin
Gang of 3 (Future Heart)
The Heat is Here
The Guitar
Lucky and Hardheaded
Young River
Uptight
Swamped and Agitated

Seattle’s The Fall of Troy took the stage next. While certainly enjoyable, the set was little more than a chance for Thomas Erak to shred his guitar for forty minutes. Beginning with “Spartacus” and continuing through a very well-selected setlist, the rhythm section of drummer Andrew Forsman and bassist Frank Ene provided Erak–who played well despite being sick with the flu–a nonstop chance to showcase his incredible guitar abilities.

Vocals took a backseat to Erak’s guitar, letting the crowd sing along for many of the songs while he blasted through riff after face-melting riff. Guitar Hero‘s “F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X.” drew the biggest response, but fan favorites like “Rockstar Nailbomb!” and “I Just Got This Symphony Goin’” also had the crowd singing along. A large portion of the crowd was clearly in attendance for The Fall of Troy; after the epic closer, “What Sound Does a Mastodon Make?”, from their self-titled 2003 debut, the crowd emptied out significantly. The full set, shortened due to Erak’s flu:

Spartacus
Rockstar Nailbomb!
Mouths like Sidewinder Missiles
F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X.
I Just Got This Symphony Goin’
What Sound Does a Mastodon Make?

On another tour, both direct-support The Fall of Troy and openers Moving Mountains might have outperformed the headlining act.

On a tour with Thursday, however, it just wasn’t possible.

The New Brunswick natives walked on stage, jolting the crowd forward as frontman Geoff Rickly raised his arm to begin “For the Workforce, Drowning”. With the pummeling guitars of Steve Pedulla and Tom Keeley, the song packed the crowd up against the stage, crushing anyone who wasn’t anticipating the surge. Soaked with sweat just moments into the set, Rickly fell all over the stage and indeed the crowd for the entire song.

“Between Rupture and Rapture” followed, and Rickly announced “we’re going to do things in order”, a hint that “Division St.” would be next. The 1-2-3 punch of War All the Time songs was excellent, and things hardly slowed down when the keyboardist Andrew Everding’s eerie piano helped shift gears to A City By the Light Divided‘s “The Other Side Of The Crash/Over and Out (of Control)”, a companion piece to the band’s most well-known single (“Understanding in a Car Crash”). Full Collapse‘s often-absent “Paris in Flames” was the first surprise of the evening; the song was followed by a deafening performance of the aforementioned single.

No longer used as an opening or closing track, “Autobiography of a Nation” (the third and final song from the band’s 2001 Victory Records debut) found a new home midway through the set. Following a light intro into an enormous climax, the band erupted with Rickly and indeed the entire church basement screaming the song’s first line: “Write these words back down!” Though unaware at the time, the song marked the set”s midpoint. A quick glance to crowd revealed an exhausted look on everyone’s faces. It was hot.

“Friends in the Armed Forces”–The Quicksand-inspired punk rock damnation of America’s unjust wars in the Middle East–was excellent; Thursday followed it with another Common Existence cut, “Beyond the Visible Spectrum”, a song about the passing of Rickly’s grandmother. “Signals Over the Air” was excellent, transformed from a solid studio cut into an amazing live track.

Anchored by the excellent rhythmic storms of bassist Tim Payne and drummer Tucker Rule over Everding’s keys, “Circuits of Fever” was a powerful and unique addition to Thursday’s setlist. Far removed from the band’s hardcore influences, the song’s atmospheric qualities were a welcomed change of pace in a night that had yet to let up. Though it was impossible to cool down with humidity approaching 100%, the song provided the crowd a chance to breathe.

The lyrically brilliant and Christianity-questioning “Sugar in the Sacrament” closed the set, with the song’s final moments finding Rickly lunging into the crowd. The piercing cry of “this is all we’ve ever known of God, fight with me, let me touch you now” was particularly relevant in the First Unitarian Church basement. Spiking the microphone, Rickly stumbled away, following his bandmates backstage.

A two song encore began with fan-favorite “Jet Black New Year”. Not just fatigued but visibly exhausted, the band still put on a colossal performance of the the Five Stories Falling EP cut. “Love Has Led Us Astray” finished the evening. The full set:

Thursday's setlist, courtsey of Joanna Drzaszcz

Thursday performed extremely well, and it is evident how much Rule’s drumming has improved over the last few years. Rickly is a decidedly better vocalist, as well, no longer stumbling through some of the more difficult notes. The band’s fourteen song setlist, though, is a point of contention.

With five full-length albums (and a long list of non-album tracks), playing just fourteen songs live is a bit disappointing. The band’s song selection, while strong, is also lacking variety: half of the setlist has remained unchanged for half of a decade. It is understandable to including staples such as “Understanding in a Car Crash” and “Jet Black New Year” at every show, but with such a strong collection of songs it would be nice to see the band shake things up from time to time.

The band also leans heavily on their oldest material, with just six songs from their latest two albums. It’s nice to see a band sticking to their roots and not abandoning their past, but including slightly more newer material would please long-time Thursday fans who have seen the band play the same songs night in and night out year after year. Arguably Common Existence‘s best song–and perhaps Thursday’s best song in five years– “You Were the Cancer”, was noticeably absent.

To be considered one of the decades top live acts is no small feat, and a great live performance depends heavily on both strong studio material to draw from and a passionate performance. The New Jersey six-piece succeeds on both accounts, and their live show is almost unparalleled.

Thursday continues this tour into the end of October, including two very special dates. At the band’s October 10 show in Los Angeles, Thursday will perform War All the Time from start to finish. On the tour’s final night, October 25, Thursday will perform Full Collapse from start to finish in New York City. If the band reaches comes through your area, do not miss the opportunity to catch one of the generation’s most important underground rock outfits.

4 Comments | First Unitarian Church, Moving Mountains, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, The Fall of Troy, Thursday, Young Widows | Permalink
Posted by Anthony Charles Ambrose

inTuneMusic

Thursday / Converge / Touche Amore / Lewd Acts @ Philadelphia 4/30/10

Thursday / Glassjaw / The Dillinger Escape Plan / United Nations / The Casting Out @ Sayreville 12/30

Thursday / Far / Midnight Masses @ NYC 10/25

Thursday / The Fall of Troy / Young Widows / Moving Mountains @ NYC 9/20

Thursday / The Fall of Troy / Young Widows / Moving Mountains @ Philadelphia 9/18

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