The live music scene is a strange place. I’ve seen bands like Fall Out Boy and Blink 182 sell out multiple arena dates, but every time I’ve been blessed enough to see The Get Up Kids – whom the former will tell you started the whole thing – they’ve played the smallest dive clubs going.
I even saw Matt Pyror… The emo scene’s John Lennon – play a solo show to five people. It’s like there’s no respect for the forefathers any more. I can’t help but think there’s a bit of that tonight with post hardcore legends Thrice. In recent months we’ve had The Used fill the big room at SWG3 and Finch fill The Garage.
Thrice, who are owed just as much in the scene than the aforementioned, are playing SWG3’s TV Studio… The tiny room by the bar. I can’t help but be blown away by that, but also astounded that we’re going to get a sweatbox, post hardcore show just like our ancestors intended.
The one and only support tonight is Palm Reader. Judging by the accent of the singer, I think they’re from England somewhere? The best way to describe them is imagine Deftones but when it gets heavy, they go ham. I’m sure I heard a “Bleugh!” at one point. Even the mellow passages are heavy. Every band member who isn’t behind a drumkit has obviously been well trained in the ways of stage presence.
There’s guitars being thrown around and every inch of the stage has had a trainer slammed into it at some point during the set. Instrumentally we get massive chunky guitars with subtle harmonies and the vocals are very, very impressive. There was a good minute at the start of the set where the singer’s mic wouldn’t work but he soldiered on as if all was fine. This is a professional band who we’ll probably be seeing more in the heavy circuits soon.
Thrice come on to a stage covered in vertical LED tubes. It reminded me of a cult sci-fi movie but I can’t, for the life of me, remember which one. Maybe all of them? What they did show was that you don’t need a huge stage for huge production value. While we’re on the subject, the lighting director for this show deserves a medal because it’s the best light show I’ve ever seen in such a small space.
There’s no point in going over the set list… We’re here to celebrate 20 years of Thrice’s classic album ‘The Artist in the Ambulance’ and as convention dictates, the set is that album in full. After that, there’s a whole other set and an encore totalling an additional ten songs. No one can complain about not getting their money’s worth tonight.
To describe Thrice live is a challenge. They’re raw and thrashy but so unbelievably tight that you’d be tempted to use the term “polished”. I’m not going to give into that temptation, though. Rather than polish, we have severe competence. Every element of this band is spot on and when they play together they’re all in each other’s pockets. Frontman Dustin’s voice is as good as it was two decades ago and the guitars sound so huge you’d be forgiven to think that there’s numerous back up players behind the stage. Where some less practiced bands sound like they’re covering their own material, we’re hearing a more dynamic, emotional, and hardcore version of the studio recordings. I really hope they’re this good at every show they play, but if they are then I’m even more baffled by the size of the room.
There’s little chat between songs, but it really is the music that’s doing the talking tonight. As Dave Hause said a few weeks ago at his show “you don’t remember the stories but you remember the songs”, and these songs heard in this way, in this space, will not be forgotten for a very long time.
Photos by Catching Light Photography
Catching Light Photography
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