Thrice Rock Arizona

You might not know about Thrice, because they don't get much radio play (I've never heard them on the radio), so I will preface this with how I discovered them.

I would hear whispers during high school of this awesome band called Thrice, but never any direct opinions from reliable sources. So I wondered about them, but never made any sort of effort to find out more. I went to visit my uncle, while in college, and I put on one of Thrice's CDs that my cousin had. I'm pretty sure it was their first CD, and I turned it off after the first song, thinking "This is waaaaaay too heavy for me!" and decided to never bother listening to them again.

Sometime last year I bought an issue of Kerrang! Magazine because it included a CD of music that the members of My Chemical Romance chose as their influences. One of the songs that Bob Bryar included was "Red Sky," by Thrice, and when I listened to it, I thought it was one of the most beautiful songs I had ever heard! So I looked them up online to try and listen to more of their music before going out and buying a CD. I liked what I heard andI went out and bought Vheissu. I was thoroughly blown away by their musicianship. At times intricate and melodic, and at others ferocious and powerful, they are able to pull off both extremes with equal dexterity, maintaining a cohesive song/album.

Ok, this is turning out to be more of an Ode to Thrice, than a journal about my concert experience. They're categorized as post-hardcore, but that mostly describes their older music, and is now a term that is way too one-dimensional to hold them. I like to say that if Tool, Chevelle and Incubus could have a love child — that would be Thrice.

Now — on to the concert! I was slightly worried about the fact that they are a heavier band, and that the pit might be a little more violent than I'm used to, but I really wasn't too worried about it, because I can handle myself pretty well (for someone so puny.) I enjoy being kind of violent at concerts. My anxety increased a little bit when I arrived at the venue because the crowd that had assembled so far was mostly male. This is a little unnerving when you usually go to see bands like MCR and Incubus ... it just seems like there are always a lot more little screaming girls than testosterone-filled college dudes. And security was super-strict — they even made us take off our shoes! Luckily, I had hidden my camera really well at the bottom of my purse.

Two thumbs up!

I headed over to the merch booth and bought myself a t-shirt and a tour poster, which I almost immediately regretted doing before the show. I was going to have to spend the whole concert trying to protect my precious poster, my camera and myself! I had been trying to drink a lot of water throughout the day, because I didn't want to get dehydrated and throw up like I have a couple times in the past (pleasant, eh?), so I went to the bathroom and took these lovely shots — then bought a water bottle at the bar.

Really, now?

Strangely reassuring....

The first band to play was Pelican, and I thought they were really good. They don't have a singer, which a lot of people were grumbling about afterward, but their music was very engaging, and they had great energy, which was entertaining enough. The guitar player on stage right was very fun to watch, and even played his guitar with a bow during one song. I love it when musicians feel their music so deeply that it looks like they're just barely managing to keep it from exploding out of themselves! At one point during a song, the drummer started playing double bass 16th notes really loudly, and it was GLORIOUS!! Or maybe they were 32nd notes ... The guys standing on both sides of me put their hands on their chests, because of the way it was vibrating through them. This made me smile, because I love that feeling — when music becomes a full-body experience and seems like it's going to change your heart-rhythm permanently. *sigh*

Circa Survive came on next and I wasn't really excited to hear them. I moved closer to the back of the room, so I wouldn't be jostled. I had never heard any of their songs before, but I had heard them compared to both Saosin and Chiodos, neither of which I like. Both of which I really dislike. I hate that high-pitched mail squawking. The background music was alright, but the drum and bass didn't seem like they were together. I left the room and went to the bathroom toward the end of their set, because I was sick of standing there, and I was hoping a lot of people would leave when they were done, because it seemed like there had been a lot of people who were mostly there just for them.

The stage beforehand

Thrice came on and opened up with a couple fast, heavy songs to get the crowd riled up, starting off with the first track from The Alchemy Index Vol. 1 — "Firebreather." The mosh pit was like a huge smile with really angry teeth, separating the room in half, and stayed that way even after they started into their more mellow material. The band sounded incredible and was spot-on, even with all their mixed meters (which I find extremely difficult to keep up with), and were pretty much CD quality. The lighting was cool too.

Oooh, pretty! I'm pretty sure this was during "Broken Lungs."

Toward the end of the middle (or the beginning of the end) of the show, the singer Dustin told us to go check out the Invisible Children section of the merch booth, which I thought was great. I really admire and respect the fact that a portion of the proceeds from their CD's goes to charity, and that they partner with such great causes. Another of the many reasons to love this band!

Dustin and Eddie

The only thing that disappointed me was that they didn't play many of my favorite songs. I understand that they wanted most of their set list to be from The Alchemy Index, since that's their newest album, and Volumes III & IV just came out, but still ... I wanted more from Vheissu, since it's my favorite. Plus they didn't play "Image of the Invisible" or "Red Sky," both of which were singles. Who doesn't play their singles in concert!? It was still a really super-duper-awesome show and I learned from my past mistakes and set my camera to have a faster shutter speed and didn't use the flash, except on this one picture!

Hooray for coming away with decent pictures!

Dustin's totally going radioactive here! And look, there's Teppei - hi, Teppei!

More Teppei! And there's Riley, too!

Teppeeeeeeeeiiiii!!!

This was actually the first picture I took of their performance, and yet it's last....

Don't forget to check out my photo gallery from the concert and read Breesays' review of Thrice's Alchemy Index Vols. III & IV: Air & Earth that hit stores April 15.