This is a night all the Belgian post-hardcore and prog-rock fans have been waiting for since the announcement! The post-hardcore kids wanting music coming from the guts had Touché Amoré. The fans of prog-rock and heavy guitar riffs had Coheed And Cambria, co-headliner of this tour. And the post-hardcore/emo kids had Thrice, the other co-headliner of the night. There was something for everyone on this awesome triple bill!
Touché Amoré were the first band on stage and the only act of the night without any stage production. They arrived on stage like common people arriving at the supermarket: chill, no pressure but a big smile on their face. The last time we saw the band was during their co-headliner tour with Deafheaven that stopped at the Ancienne Belgique before the pandemic. Tonight, they’re only opener but they don’t care: any spot is good as long as they can share their music live.
Their frontman Jeremy is happy to be there even with half of the room empty in front of him. A couple of die-hard fans are present at the front row and people behind could be calm fans or just people here to discover them. They had 30 minutes to show what they’re made of and they use this time wisely to defend their latest full-length album “Lament” (Epitaph, 2020) with 4 songs and 3 songs from “Stage Four” (Epitaph, 2016): ~ (Deathwish, 2011) being the only survivor from the early years of Touché Amoré. The highligh of this short set was definitely Flowers and You, the ending song with some nice sing-along from the crowd. A good warm-up for the 2 co-headliners coming next!
Set-list: Come Heroine, New Halloween, Rapture, Feign, Reminders, ~, Limelight, Flowers And You.
After a long 35 minutes change-over, the lights went off to hear the introduction song of Coheed And Cambria: The Trooper from Iron Maiden. It seems to be a new trend for bands to choose the last song to warm up the crowd before they go on stage. We had the same the day before with Amon Amarth opening their show with Run To The Hills, also from Iron Maiden. We won’t complain: the song is often well chosen!
This legendary song over, Claudio Sanchez and his teammates arrived on stage with the biggest stage production of the evening and a perfect sound. Obviously, we were from the first seconds sent to the imaginary world from Coheed And Cambria with Prologue, followed by The Dark Sentencer. During 1h, we are stucked in Vaxis, the imaginary world where the last 2 albums are set. The 6 first songs were all taken from “Vaxis I” and “Vaxis II” and as Claudio isn’t the most talkative frontman – he prefers talk through his music -, we stay hypnotized in this world listening to the music from Coheed And Cambria which is technically complex but still, we can easely capture the good vibes from it.
The osmose between the musicians and between the band itself and the crowd is perfect. Even the long guitar solos don’t make us loose focus. Not too short, not too long. But it’s during the second half of the show fans really went crazy. The highlights were definitely In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth, A favor House Atlantic and Welcome Home. The strength of Coheed And Cambria is to make complex music look simple, which is the proof of a long and successful hard work. More than 25 years and 10 albums later, they are still here and still bring new fans in their unique world.
Set-list: Prologue, The Dark Sentencer, The Embers Of Fire, Beautiful Losers, Shoulders, A Disappearing Act, In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth, The Liars Club, A Favor House Atlantic, Welcome Home, Window Of The Waking Mind.
Back to a more emotionnal vibe with the last act on this lovely Saturday evening: Thrice. They also released a new album recently: “Horizons/East” one year ago via Epitaph Records. So it’s not a surprise if they start tonight with The Colors Of The Sky and Scavengers, the 2 opening tracks on the record. The venue is packed, the show is almost soldout, the audience is on fire and the show starts 10 minutes earlier. What else?!
Very quickly, Thrice played some of their most iconic songs, if not the most iconic with The Artist In The Ambulance, singing by the whole venue! Followed by another banger: Black Honey. In just 2 songs and less than 7 minutes, the Americans showed their 2 faces: their emo/melodic hardcore period with this 20 year old song and then their most recent sound more rock and deep than ever. Not only their music has changed during the last 10 years but also Dustin‘s voice. With his hoarse voice, we can easely imagine him singing a Nirvana song.
With The Artist In The Ambulance playing so early in the set and sounding as the climax of their show, we were afraid the other songs would suffer from comparison. But that would be to limit the band’s success to this one track and forget all the other gems in their discography like Anthology, Beyond The Pines or All The World Is Mad. Even if the set-list is focused on the most recent album “The Colors Of The Sky”, Thrice went through almost their whole discography tonight with songs coming from 8 different albums (they released 11 in their career). And it’s of course with the sick The Earth Will Shake that… the floor shake one more time tonight. Thrice couldn’t finish their show without a final look back to their roots with this hit released in 2005, 17 years ago.
Set-list: The Colors Of The Sky, Scavengers, The Artist In The Ambulance, Black Honey, All The World Is Mad, Where Idols Once Stood, The Red Death, Anthology, Dandelion, Hurricane, Summer Set Fire To The Rain, Robot Soft Exorcism, Beyond The Pines, The Earth Will Shake.
All these bands have been active in the alternative music world since so many years, have toured together in their early years and it was such a pleasure to see them touring together again. This triple bill was a perfect combo and proved they are still some of the best in their own genres. You can count on them for a long time to come!
