On Wednesday, November 5th, Rockworms had the distinct privilege of attending the concert of The Second Stage Turbine Blade show at the Avalon theater in Hollywood. Set to be a concept show, following walking on stage, the band immediately kicked things off with the song “Time Consumer” and then proceeded to play through the rest of the bands entire first album (the aforementioned Second Stage Turbine Blade), save for two brief interruptions by the band to welcome their fans and thank them for coming out.
For those that are unaware, the four currently released Coheed and Cambria albums together form one cohesive story arc referred to as “The Armory Wars.” The Second Stage Turbine Blade centers around the stories characters “Coheed and Cambria Kilgannon,” who have been tricked into murdering their children by the villains “Wilhelm Ryan and Mayo Deftinwolf.” One of the children thought to have been murdered, “Claudio Kilgannon,” survives the murder attempt and the remainder of the albums center around his story of saving “Heaven’s Fence,” the universe in which our story takes place. The Neverender concert series is a four-night event, with Coheed and Cambria playing one album in its entirety each night. The first Neverender concert was in New York, the second in Chicago, the third in Los Angeles, and the fourth and final will be played in London.
For such technical music, I was blown away with how well the band sounded live. From Chris’ drum fills to Claudio’s furious guitar fretwork and his perfectly high-pitched voice, the band was in top form and clearly enjoying themselves more than any band at their level of success should have. For most of the show, Claudio Sanchez was grinning from ear to ear watching the crowd go completely nuts listening to the band play. It seemed as if the entire audience knew every word to the entire album, with people literally hanging from the balcony shouting the lyrics along with the band. A small mosh pit formed in the rear, but for the most part people were too engrossed in the music to bother shoving each other around.
Besides lighting and fog, the only aesthetic effects on stage were three television displays showing both static and moving images, animated and live action, reflecting what was happening in the story at this point on the album. My only complaint as a reviewer is that they did not use more of the images from the (and produced) comics, as that artwork was much better than what was displayed for most of the show.
The songs “Time Consumer”, “Devil in Jersey City” and “Delirium Trigger” are my favorite tracks from the album, and they sounded incredible live. Overall, having listened to their other live albums, the band sounded much better in this show than in previous outings. The encore, introduced as a “preview of what is to come” began with “In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3” followed by “Welcome Home” and ended with “No World for Tomorrow”. The encore was most certainly the highlight of the show, the crowd more energized during these three songs than the rest of the night.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the show was the crowd. After the show commenced, a many in attendance gathered outside on the sidewalk in front of the Avalon to trade Coheed and Cambria concert stories, talk about the their thoughts on the show, and made plans to meet up with each other over the next three nights. For such a hard-core group of followers that absolutely loves the band, this was a show designed for them.
All in all, I could not have asked for a better Coheed and Cambria concert experience, and I for one am stoked to be able to see the other three nights of the show when they are released next year on CD and DVD.
