Venue (3.5/6): The Canopy
Club is my kind of venue. It’s small enough to be cozy but large enough to
be a proper crowd. It is neither the nicest, nor the cleanest of venues, though
it is far from disgusting. It has its own character and charm. The majority of
the space is standing room, but it has a balcony for those who want to sit. The
layout was comfortable with ample access to bars and merch. The floor was also divided in such a way as
to keep the pit crowd from running up against those who wanted to stand but not
mosh. This was my second time at The Canopy
Club and both times I had a perfect line of sight to the stage. It was nice and
intimate.
Where The Canopy Club loses points is the horrid sound
system. While it’s not the worst I’ve
heard, it is very unforgiving especially on the vocals and produces a lot of
noise.
Overall, it’s a fun venue with an intimate, comfortable
feel.
The Show:
Opener, the First: Pianos Become Teeth
(1/6)— Oh Gods. I think these guys are the worst live act I’ve seen. The one
point they earned is for the drummer who, despite his other band-mates' complete
lack of talent, was actually decent. I
retract any statement I’ve made about screamo not needing talent to be
decent. This was noise. The front man didn’t even have a strong
scream and seemed to be either drunk or high out of his mind. Being smashed isn’t a problem usually,
however it impeded his already tenuous ability to preform. I spent the parts of
the show wondering if he was going to simply stager and fall right over. The screaming was just drunk screeching, not the
guttural screams that make scream work. And
the back-up vocals were just as bad. The
guitar work was fair at best and the bass work was just wretched. Despite my usual
desire to encourage younger bands I ended up actually falling asleep on my feet
during this set.
I took a glance at their album work, as many younger bands
don’t preform as well live as recorded.
It was better, however, it was still horrible.
Opener, the second: Moving Mountains (3/6)– In the wake
of Pianos Become Teeth’s performance, all Moving Mountains had to do was show
up and tune their instruments to be an improvement. They had a very professional, yet still eager
attitude toward performing. All told
they were solid. Front man[dude] has a good scream and still mange’s to make
the melodies distinct. The one that surprised me was when their hither to
subdued bassist let out an eagle-like scream.
They made a good effort to keep their sound solid and get the crowd
moving.
All told decent.
Headliner: Coheed
And Cambria. (5/6)– Coheed and Cambria is the band that set the bar in my
book for top live show. From how articulate front man Claudio Sanchez is to the
technically astonishing guitar work and brilliant stage presence, Coheed and
Cambria brings a level of showmanship and talent not seen in many artists. Sanchez has innate confidence but has a
willingness to share the spotlight with his band mates and a young lady who I
suspect is his wife. He also has a very strong relationship with the fans and
knows exactly how to work with the crowd while not slacking off on performing. In addition to his phenomenal vocal work
Sanchez has a gift for guitar work. The
majority of artists I’ve seen who both play and do vocals stick to rhythm guitar
as it is much simpler to do when sinning. Not so with Sanchez, he does a great
deal of the lead guitar exquisitely.
Guitarist Travis Stever is a marvel in his own
right. He can do things with guitar work
that I didn’t know were possible. He is amazingly talented and brings his own
magic to the show. His backing vocals also complement Sanchez’s own tenor voice
lending an ethereal quality to their overall sound.
Their energy and sound are always amazing to experience. A
Coheed And Cambria show is unlike anything else I’ve seen.
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