Thrice, Say Anything, Attack In Black – Live (Feb. 10th, 2008)

This was one of those shows where it was the opening bands that were the main attraction – for me anyway. For most people, Thrice were the band that enticed them to come but I didn’t become excited until I found out who was opening: Attack in Black and Say Anything.

First came Attack In Black in support of their phenomenal full length, Marriage; a CD that gained an amazing amount of praise and ended up in countless top ten lists (mine included).Their self-conscious nature made them somewhat shy and quiet on the stage but the music spoke for itself as they sounded great and played as many songs as they could. Dan Romano’s vocals were spot on, worn and tired but passionately spouting out the lyrics of introspection and hope. Playing through tracks like Come What May, Inches and Ages and Young Leaves, they hit most of their songs from the aforementioned Marriage and played one cut from The Curve Of The Earth where the drummer Ian Romano took over lead vocal duties. The real highlight was the slight change up they gave to all their songs, most noticeably on Chimes and Churchbells in which they sped it up to over twice it’s regular speed and even cut off the last verse. But directly following the faster rendition of the song they slowed it down with the five minute If All I Thought Were True to cement their style and sound into the stage.

Like I said, their quiet persona stayed with them on the stage as they rarely spoke to the crowd but when they did they spoke with honest sincerity and responded to comments shouted from the crowd. The only things that would have made their set a bit better would have been if more people there had known who they were or if it was in a smaller venue because even though the Edmonton Events Centre isn’t all that big, Attack In Black are much more suited for an intimate venue surrounded by other fans.

After a slightly longer than expected set change, Say Anything came back and maybe it’s something to do with the Edmonton weather but Max Bemis was once again sick as he took the stage. Last time they were scheduled to play here he was so sick he had to cancel the show completely. This time he at least took the stage but his vocals weren’t nearly as strong as I had hoped. At first he played a handful of songs acoustically including Every Man Has A Molly, Wow I Can Get Sexual Too and Baby Girl, I’m A Blur. The full band came on for the second half of the set and literally exploded through the speakers. It was there that Bemis’ vocals suffered the most as he fell into the background and was far too low in the mix to be audible. The full band played a few songs from In Defense Of The Genre along with some older ones like Alive With The Glory Of Love and Belt. It was a set that left me slightly disappointed and failed to leave me with the same memories that I have from the CD and I can’t help but hope that next time Say Anything comes through town he’s actually healthy enough to put on a complete show.

Unlike the two opening bands, I had already seen Thrice twice before so I knew relatively well what I would get and since I’ve never been a huge fan, I wasn’t all that excited either. Despite that, the instant Thrice broke onto the stage with Firebreather the temperature in the venue rose a few degrees. They attacked the stage with the same level of intensity that their CDs have and I couldn’t help but think about how strong Dustin Kensrue’s vocals were as he screamed through the entire set. With around half a dozen songs from The Alchemy Index Volumes 1&2, split evenly between the water and fire discs, the band focused heavily on their new material; even given the fans a sneak peak at two tracks from their the air and earth discs from Volumes 3&4. The most memorable moment of the night however was definitely given to their rendition of Digital Sea where they were actually able to reproduce all the effects and distortion that they did in the studio. Luckily, they did play a few older songs to great reception like Deadbolt and Stare At The Sun with Image Of The Invisible being the only shining omission from the set list.

Just like always, Thrice put on an impressive set. They had energy, sounded good and played to their crowd. However, they were unable to really move me and turn me into a fan yet, maybe next time though…