Story and Photos: Spencer Fleming
The Admiral was on fire with the sounds of futuristic space metal Wednesday (9/13). One of my all-time favorite bands Coheed & Cambria delivered a stellar performance of their 2007 album Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 2: No World For Tomorrow to a sold-out Admiral crowd.
I was stoked for this show as this would be my third experience with Coheed's "Neverender" series. The Neverender shows focus on playing one of the band's albums in full. I previously attended tours for Coheed's first album The Second Stage Turbine Blade and for their third album Good Apallo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness. This tour titled "Neverender NWFTWM" would focus on the "No World For Tomorrow" album in full and a few songs from Coheed's latest release Vaxis - Act II: A Window Of The Waking Mind".
Before Coheed the post-metal band DeafHeaven was the direct support for the evening. DeafHeaven has had a variety of style changes over the years going from black metal to more shoegaze metal, but no matter the style, they've stayed consistently heavy. As their lead singer George Clarke took the stage he raised his fist in triumph. The band blasted the crowd with super fuzzed out walls of noise and Greg did his best to shred his throat from relentless screaming. I enjoyed their set, but the level of sound from the bass, drums, and guitars almost drowned out Greg's vocals. It was one of the loudest sets I'd heard in a while.
After a changeover break the house lights dimmed and "Release The Beast" by Breakwater came over the house speakers. I thought back to the Monstar virus from Coheed's ongoing comic book saga The Amory Wars. For those unfamiliar, each Coheed album pairs along with a storyline from a comic book series titled The Amory Wars. Coheed's lead singer Claudio Sanchez is the primary writer behind the series and the name Coheed & Cambria comes from two characters depicted in the comics. I won't even begin to explain all the different storylines. If you want to go down the rabbit hole there's several different comics you can purchase or Reddit pages filled with explanations. Without the comics Coheed is one of the best bands on the scene, but with the stories that go along with the songs it just puts them into a whole new stratosphere. Each album is like a soundtrack to a bigger story.
As the house music died down lead singer Claudio Sanchez stepped forth and picked up his acoustic guitar for "The Reaping", the opening track of No World For Tomorrow. As Claudio softly strummed along I got goosebumps. Before the end of the song Travis, Zach, and Josh joined Claudio on stage and blasted into the title track "No World For Tomorrow". I couldn't help but sing along with the catchy chorus. However, I was shooting photos so it would've been counterproductive for me to "reach my hands high!" as the song suggests.
Coheed tore through the "No World For Tomorrow" album without once acknowledging the crowd. I've been told Claudio can be shy at times. Several years ago Coheed played the same venue and I hung back on the side street after the last song to talk with Travis, Michael Todd, and Chris Pennie. Unfortunately Claudio ran past me onto the bus, most likely to avoid getting mobbed as I'm sure other fans would've found him chatting right where I was standing.
Before the encore set of songs from Coheed's new album "Vaxis II" a girl and her father made their way to the front. The girl sat on her father's shoulders and they shouted for the band to play "Our Love". They caught Claudio's attention and he gave the security guard a pic for the girl. The guard ended up throwing it into the crowd. Claudio got another pic and stretched out to the barrier to make sure the girl got the pic in her hand. It was a really sweet moment.
After a very short break Coheed came back to rock the sold out crowd with seven songs from "Vaxis II" including the breakout hits "Shoulders" and "The Liar's Club". I was holding out hope for "In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth Three" but I was totally fine with the closer "Ladders Of Supremacy". With twisting bluesy guitars it reminds me of "The Final Cut" from "Good Apollo I". I'm biased because I've been a Coheed fan for so long, but they have one of the best live shows around. If they are ever within a reasonable distance make sure you snag tickets, you won't regret it.
A huge thanks to Coheed's management and Mammoth productions for photo access. This was an unforgettable evening!
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