It’s a sunny Wednesday right at the beginning of March here in Denmark, the air is sweeting up and the fields are being prepared for the Spring to come. While I drive to Copenhagen, in the bright light of a late afternoon, I listen to Horizons / West, Thrice latest release to get into the mood of the concert I’m about to attend.
Once I got to Pumpehuset, ready to conquer a piece of the front row to get the best chances of clean shots, I found the first of three surprises of the night: a pit. Standing there in all their glory, a good meter from the edge of the stage, a row of fences – I couldn’t believe my eyes but they were real and all of a sudden, my evening got way easier than expected.
The second surprise arrived in form of the opening band, Lysistrata, a French trio that hit the stage with the rage of Refused and the freshness of a college radio band.
It’s about nine o’clock and the room filled up with a variety of diversely young people: time for the show to begin and for the third and last surprise of the evening – during the first song the stage was dark, but so dark, that the autofocus of the camera struggled most of the times. Oh, well… nothing I can do if not embrace the situation, shoot what I could and enjoy the hoarse and deep voice of Dustin Kensrue singing somewhere in the dark over my head.
Once Blackout is over and some light is shed on stage, we can finally enjoy the experience of a live concert also visually. The stage is an open space for Kensrue, Teppei Teranishi and Eddie Breckenridge to move, jump and dance like they were in a rehearsal studio, shredding guitars and taking the crowd on a rollercoaster of sounds and moods: Hurricane swept the audience away with its powerful melancholic intimacy while Holding On brought emotions in waves: strong, soft, loud, soothing.
The Dark Glow sums up the vibes and the mood of the new album, creating the continuity East-West of the Horizons concept.
Although it’s the first night of the European tour, the setlist is the same of the US leg – four sets and an encore. It’s easy for the band to show off as the very well oiled machine that they are: no spontaneous hiccup of night one, no equipment malfunction, just the bass player that, so excited, he forgot to put on the in ear monitors for the first song.
During Dust, a moment of serendipity: a spotlight hit a white haired man at the fence precisely during the solo, him performing with his imaginary air guitar, eyes closed and head banging included.
The songs rolled smoothly one after the other, setlist packed of personal favorites, both old and new, like Albatross from the new album, the modern ballad of the ancient mariner, more rock, more suffered and more liberating in its catching riff melody – an instant classic – or Beyond the Pines the typical cinematic candlelight ballad that ends up in hot sex (with a touch of American Football cozyness).
While Robot Soft is a perfect follow up, with desperate sexy notes in the voice, Earth winks a bit to the sound dichotomy Deftones are masters of: a soft minimalistic opening that leads to a sound explosion.
A quick encore with Vesper Lights and Deadbolt seals the night. Musically speaking, it was a constant alternation between cuddles and slaps with a setlist long enough to be satisfying without being dispersive.
If after reading all this you’re questioning your choice of not having attended the concert, now you know what you’ve missed and you won’t repeat the same mistake next time Thrice are in town, hoping it won’t take another 18-20 years to stop in Copenhagen again.
