Location: Vienna / club Flex / Austria
Date: Saturday, 10 August 2019
American progressive rockers Coheed And Cambria are pushing hard to promote their latest album Vaxis I (review HERE). The focus is mostly on the US leg of the tour, but their road leads into Europe as well. Since they haven’t toured Europe all that heavily in their roughly twenty-year run, the band is still playing the smaller club circuit here. This time around, they had only a handful of confirmed dates across central Europe. One of those stops brought them to Vienna, at the Flex. The venue holds roughly the equivalent of two Gala Halas in Ljubljana, which made for a fairly intimate show.
Opening the show were the young Polyphia, who stylistically might not have been the most obvious match for Coheed And Cambria — but that doesn’t mean Polyphia aren’t worth watching. For fans of modern instrumental metal, they’re a real treat. The quartet impressed above all with their guitar work. The rhythm section held its own, but the real powerhouses are the two guitarists, who blow you away with their precision playing. There’s no shortage of soloing, either, and complex time signatures don’t faze them in the slightest. The bassist kept working the crowd throughout, getting a response mostly from the front rows while the rest of the audience saved their energy for the headliners. The band currently has three albums behind them and undeniably has the potential for something bigger — though given how complex their music is, mass audiences will probably remain out of reach.
Then came Coheed And Cambria, returning to Vienna after many years away. A pretty full house gave the band a strong response — singing along to choruses, plenty of jumping, and the occasional stage diver. The band is still in very good form. Claudio Sanchez’s vocals are powerful and show no signs of wear. He ran a little short of breath here and there, but given all the guitar lines and vocal parts he has to deliver simultaneously, it’s no wonder everything doesn’t land perfectly every time. The band’s tightness is simply exceptional. Guitarist Travis Stever and bassist Zach Cooper frequently stepped in to help Sanchez on vocals, filling out the sound with rich harmonies. Experience they certainly don’t lack. Over the years they’ve naturally reached a level of professionalism where you can expect the best from their live show.
Coheed And Cambria have to be quite careful about what they pick for the set list. With a dozen albums behind them, well-known songs are never in short supply. But the focus was still on promoting Vaxis I: Unheavenly Creatures, which meant tracks from some albums had to be cut. Naturally, they opened with The Dark Sentencer, which is also the opening track on the latest record. It’s a great opener — the kind they’ve only written a handful of. A natural follow-up came with the title track, the first big hit off the current album. Then a leap back in time with In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, which satisfied the long-time fans as the band pushed those post-hardcore elements front and center. The simple but infectious A Favor House Atlantic got the crowd singing, but with the newer The Gutter, the band showed their harder edge. With True Ugly, the tempo went up another notch. The set had plenty of dynamic range, that’s for sure.
No World For Tomorrow is an album they can’t ignore. Accordingly, the title track made an appearance, along with the hard-hitting Gravemakers & Gunslingers and the beloved ballad Mother Superior. The band returned to the current album with Old Flames, an upbeat track they also shot a video for. After a breather, they came back with the melodic The Pavillion, then closed things out with Welcome Home — arguably the band’s biggest hit. During the song a stage diver appeared, kept jumping relentlessly, and eventually sparked a brawl in the crowd. Sanchez was visibly furious, and the moment the song was done, the band cleared the stage in an instant.
So the show ended on a sour note, all courtesy of a drunk fan who crossed the line. The Coheed And Cambria set itself, though, was well above par — even if they left out quite a few songs.
