Coheed & Cambria on the Kerrang Tour 2008 @ Brixton Academy, London
8th February 2008
So little more than 18 hours later, I’m back in Brixton for the second gig of the week. This time its the turn of Kerrang magazine to provide the entertainment with their UK tour of fresh rocking talent.
There was a large bill this evening so I’ll dive straight into the music. As we entered with relative peace, *note the lack of a sizable the queue* the epic sounds of Circa Survive were ricocheting with great intensity. They seemed confident and not afraid to experiment in this early slot with great versions of tracks from their latest album On Letting Go. The musical unit was great and played really well, generating huge ranges of progressive sonic pleasures. The singers quirky pubescent squeals which sounded as if they come straight from a CBeebies cartoon, did however take a while to get used to. Once over that barrier though, it was plain sailing… enjoyable and worth checking out for Coheed Fans.
Fightstaroffered a rather dull attempt at entertaining rock music, they seemed to have the right rock weapons but they couldn’t seem to put them to any use. They tried their best but it was a tad uninspiring and only the Kerrang readers down front got into any kind of spirit. Themselves even reluctantly adhering to Charlie “thats what I go to school for” Simpson’s calls to… “lets go crazy London!!“.
The night was destined to get worse as next was the teen punk pop anti-delights of Madina Lake. Being fair to them, the odds were hugely stacked against. Playing a teeny pop punk band before the mighty Coheed progsters was a tad cruel if not a huge judgment error from Kerrang. C&C roadies clearly not happy with their teen image conscious posing tour mates, they teased from side stage which resulted in a impromptu punch up. From which Madina returned to stage boasting of a victory, clearly with bruised ego’s at the beaten they were handed! No respect was shown to the headliners which proved to turn 2/3s of the crowd against them and provoked a showering of jeers, boos as well as the occasional call to “F**k off and Go Home!”. The hostile crowd was gratefully rewarded with their timely exit…eventually. Truly dire stuff!
Coheed & Cambria
Coheed & Cambria were welcomed with huge rapture and quickly fired into their unique brand of classic rock, metal and prog pop. Lead singer Claudio Sanchez’s hair alone requires a mention with its amazing ability to block out the sun, the huge afro was commendable although it was difficult to see if there was a man in there at all. Yet despite his top heaviness, his guitar slinging and quirky choir boy vocals were excellent playing off the rhythms section superbly. His co-axe wielder was no slouch either with the two of they trading guitar solos blow for blow in exquisite harmony.
Claudio Sanchez is in there…promise!
They showcased a fair few tracks from their latest LP and they sounded great. Coheed so easily melded the metal with slight prog undertones on Welcome Home, and pop with classic rock riffs on Feathers. Poppier offerings sounded great as well especially on the punk pop stormer of The Running Free. The beauty of this gig was shown in the perfect amalgamation of the prog breakdowns and melodic solos with enough catchiness and memorable hooks as not to bore or alienate. Coheed really do have a cracking back catalogue too and they managed to storm through early gems such as Devil In Jersey City, Blood Red Summer, A Favor House Atlantic and The Crowing.
Coheed showed here tonight they are a gargantuan force to be reckoned with. More outstanding performances like these, they will rule a planet someday, whether it being this, or one of their sci-fi bonkers concept civilizations. One thing not in question is they are fantastic and a must for any serious rock fan!
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