Coheed and Cambria at The Commodore Ballroom 09/12/18
If you were to walk into The Commodore Ballroom Wednesday night without any knowledge of the type of music in store, it wouldn’t take long to figure it out. One thing that makes hard rock shows stand apart from other concerts is the high number of attendees in band shirts, repping various metal acts. In the packed crowd, one could find people wearing band shirts from acts such as Mastodon, Iron Maiden, Ghost, August Burns Red, Alexisonfire, and Ministry. For the most part, you don’t see these types of shirts unless you’re at a rock show. And a rock show it was indeed, with New York’s Coheed and Cambria playing night two of their back-to-back showing in Vancouver, kicking off their 8-city Canadian tour run.
Starting the night off was Ontario rockers Crown Lands. The duo of Cody Bowles and Kevin Comeau manage the duties of a full band between themselves. Bowles handles the drums while pulling off vocal capabilities like that of Wolfmother while Comeau rocks the guitar and works a keyboard on the ground with his feet, believe it or not. With influences of Rush, Led Zeppelin, and Queen very much apparent, classic rock fans were sure to be impressed with the set they put forth. Both members rocking hair well past their shoulders, they put on a (literally) deafening display of rock jams from their two EP’s and it’s a blessing that coat check had ear plugs on sale for a buck.
A fellow Ontario band that has several more years under their belt, Protest The Hero was the next up Wednesday night. There was clearly a good number of attendees there to see the Canadian prog-metal act, many members of the crowd sporting the band’s tees, on sale at their merch table. When the band came on stage at quarter to eight, the tightly formed crowd in the front felt ready to explode and so it did when they burst into the opening song “Sex Tapes” from 2011’s Scurrilous. The pit opened up and the bodies started bouncing off each other as the band shredded there way through the set.
Long-time vocalist Rody Walker showed off some muscle, wearing a black sleeveless tee, and proved he’s still got quite the vocal capability. In June the band had to pull out of a planned Fortress ten-year anniversary tour in the UK/Japan due to damage to Walker’s vocals after their North American leg. It’s great to see they’re able to get back on the road though the guys weren’t trying to hide their use of a backing vocal track throughout the set. Still, it was a wild performance and Walker showed a very outgoing personality chatting with the crowd between songs about being called fat in an Instagram comment, hating big cities, screwing up song lyrics, and Vancouver’s “junkies.”
The sold-out crowd was a sight to behold from the upper balcony of the Commodore as the time approached for Coheed to take the stage. The band is known to have a science fiction theme to their rock, almost every one of their albums a concept record based on vocalist Claudio Sanchez’s comic book series called The Amory Wars. When the lights dropped at ten there was a very space-like feel as the blue lights flooded the crowd and the deeply resonating voice of the narrator introduced the band’s latest chapter in their Amory Wars concept. They began with “The Dark Sentencer,” the lead single and opening track off their upcoming release due in October entitled The Unheavenly Creatures.
The crowd was full of die-hard’s singing along to every word and they had a lot of pent up energy to be released, having been nearly six years since these guys last came through Vancouver. Sanchez is one of the greatest vocalists in rock music today and one of the most multi-talented, his comic book series being a whole other layer to his genius. It’s interesting to hear Sanchez speak to the audience after showing off such a powerful presence in their songs. The frontman with his signature bushy black hair seems most comfortable hidden behind the frizzy mane and has a shy and soft-spoken demeanour. He spent very little of the set bantering with the crowd, but he was curious to see who had pre-ordered the deluxe edition of their upcoming album: “I’m really proud of it, I think the fucking shit is awesome, I’m not kidding you,” he said to the approving audience before moving into the album’s title track.
Throughout the hour-and-a-half set Coheed played fan-favourites like “Here We Are Juggernaut” and “Ten Speed (Of God’s Blood and Burial).” “In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth:3” was the most fun of the night, the crowd having full reign in the singing of “Man your own jackhammer!” One thing special about their show was the performance put on by the supporting band members (guitarist Travis Stever, bassist Zach Cooper, and drummer Josh Eppard) who were each clearly enjoying themselves. Eppard had some of the most passioned drum expressions this reviewer has ever seen at a show and it’s always a pleasure to see the band members having a fun time.
The band capped the night off with their biggest hit, “Welcome Home,” Sanchez busting out the double-necked guitar as seen in the music video. It was the end to a strong set, and though the set list could have used a few changes in this reviewer’s opinion, the fans were left satisfied and many can now tick this off their bucket list. The band’s are continuing East and finishing off the short tour run in Quebec City September 22nd.
