Coheed and Cambria, Clutch, Fall of Troy - Electric Factory - Philadelphia, PA - November 28th
Posted by Dan Marsicano on 12.11.2007
Coheed and Cambria came into town on November 28th and they brought along two bands that are radically different from Coheed and Cambria's progressive sound. Can the three bands keep the crowd entertained for four hours?
It was November 28th, a cool Wednesday night, when Coheed and Cambria rolled into town and took over the Electric Factory for the night. They brought along Fall of Troy and Clutch for the ride. My friend and I drove to Philly to see the show, which was a great one, with only a few problems here and there.
Traffic was pretty terrible once we got into Philly. I noticed that there was a lot more traffic then the last show I went to, which was the Avenged Sevenfold show I previously reviewed. The show started at 8, so we got there around 7:40. Parking was a pain in the ass, though, so we lost about 15 minutes because of that. However, to my surprise, Fall of Troy was already playing by the time we got into the Electric Factory, which had to be around 8:00.
I was actually disappointed, because I had heard some of their stuff off of their Myspace page and was left impressed. My friend was a huge fan of theirs and knew most of the songs, while I looked around at the vast crowd and saw many approving faces. I don’t have a setlist because I didn’t know any of the song titles and the fact that we got there about 25 minutes into the set.
Fall of Troy really got the crowd going with their unique blend of progressive rock and crazy arty metal. That’s really the only way I could describe it. They were good, though, and I intend to pick up their new album ASAP.
Once Fall of Troy got off the stage at 8:20, we had to wait 35 minutes for Clutch to come on. The wait was worth it though, as the band played through a short, but sweet, 35 minute setlist.
The Setlist
Promoter (Of Earthbound Causes)
The Devil & Me
Mice and Gods
The Mob Goes Wild
The Regulator
King of Arizona
Profits of Doom
Cypress Grove
The crowd wasn’t really into their blend of hard rock and blues at first, but Clutch was able to win the crowd over. Some people, though, were still very rude and disrespectful. This lady was standing behind me chanting for Coheed and Cambria every single time Clutch would finish a song. She kept asking her boyfriend when Clutch would be off the stage. I really wanted to turn around and tell her to shut up and watch the damn band.
Anyway, Clutch was great and they won me over. Now the waiting game began. Yes, we had to wait again. Of course, being a live show, I expected that. Clutch got off the stage at 9:25 and Coheed and Cambria came on at 10:08. Nope, that’s not a typo. We had to wait almost 45 minutes for Coheed to come on. I was shocked to say the least and the crowd was getting restless. Was the wait worth? Oh hell yes….
The Setlist
No World For Tomorrow
Gravemakers and Gunslingers
Junesong Provision
A Favor House Atlantic
Ten Speed (Of God's Blood And Burial)
The Hound (Of Blood And Rank)
The Suffering
Feathers
Everything Evil/The Trooper/Devil in Jersey City
Mother Superior
The Crowing
The Running Free
In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3
(Encore)
Welcome Home
The Final Cut
I do want to say one thing before I explain Coheed and Cambria’s set in greater detail. The sound quality at the show was some of the worst I have ever heard at the Electric Factory. I have never had a problem with it before, but this show had many problems. The big one was Claudio’s guitars and pedals not working at certain times. This was especially apparent in the medley “Everything Evil/The Trooper/Devil in Jersey City,” which had Claudio basically screaming at the guitar tech at the end of the song.
So, getting that out of the way, the band soldiered on and delivered an hour and fifty minute show that showed why Coheed and Cambria is one of the best modern progressive rock bands out there today. The band took material from every album they’ve done, with an extra emphasis on Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Vol. 2: No World For Tomorrow.
The big additions to the band’s live show is a keyboardist who plays samples from a laptop, a keyboard, and sings backing vocals and two female backing vocals. This last addition makes so much sense, considering a good portion of the songs have female vocals in them, especially the new material.
The band flew through their hits and even some obscure songs. The medley was amazing, with a surprising cover of “The Trooper.” As I sang the chorus, I noticed most of the crowd had no idea what “The Trooper” was. My friend stared at me like I had two heads as I screamed the lyrics out. It was funny, but not surprising, to see the lack of knowledge on a band like Iron Maiden.
The absolute highlight of the show was the last two songs in the encore. “Welcome Home” is a personal favorite of mine and the band nailed it perfectly. It was the 25 minute long “The Final Cut” that really sealed the deal for me. Yep, you heard me correctly. Coheed and Cambria extended “The Final Cut” almost 20 minutes longer than the studio version.
The song started out like the studio version, with Claudio and Travis doing their trade off guitar solos. The live keyboardist got to show off his talent as well with his atmospheric playing. Then Travis and Claudio left, leaving the keyboardist, Michael Todd (Bassist) and Chris Pennie (Drums). Each member had his chance to play a solo. I’m talking about a full on bass and drum solo. It was like 1975 all over again. Sadly, about half the crowd left the Electric Factory during this section, whether it was to beat out the traffic or because they didn’t want to sit through a bass and drum solo.
I stayed, being a huge fan of bass and drum solos, and Michael and Chris impressed the crowd with their technical, yet tasteful, playing. The whole band came back in to finish the song out and left the crowd who stayed for the whole encore impressed and entertained.
Even with the sound problems, the band sounded great, with Pennie showing that he deserves to be in Coheed and Cambria. The show was amazing and is definitely on my top 5 list of live shows of 2007 that I’ve been to. If you haven’t seen Coheed and Cambria live, you need to get some tickets next time they come through your town.
The 411: A great show marred by terrible sound. It really is a shame that there were sound problems, as all three bands played great sets and the crowd was hot all night. I recommend seeing Coheed and Cambria, Clutch, or Fall of Troy if you get a chance.
