This year has held a lot of first time experiences for me, and the latest one was Coheed And Cambria as they supported Deftones at KB Hallen this night.

After a thundering, bass-filled intro Coheed And Cambria, a New York sort of sci-fi rock band (if such a title explains anything), burst onto the stage in a rage of energy as they wanted to present their latest album, Year Of The Black Rainbow, which tells the beginning of Coheed and Cambria. Yes, the name is not only the band-name but also the names of the two main characters in the story The Amory Wars, which all of the bands albums revolve around. Quite the ambitious project, and if that wasn’t enough, the band has also a comic book out on the story, simply called The Amory Wars.

This was all something I had only heard vague rumours about before the show however, so for me the music and performance would have to stand on its own two feet without the accompanying context of the intended storyline.
This worked out well for the band however, as the energetic performance, mostly visible in frontman Claudio Sanchez with his Sideshow Bob hairdo, and guitarist Travis Stever.
Stever, who kept to his side of the stage, would entertain us with frantic headbanging and other stage antics, and Sanchez, who filled a lot more on the stage would occasionally jump or run around and swing his curls while not singing. If he could see us or not is not certain, but we had no chance at seeing his face through said curls until the set was almost at an end, where he, for one song only, chose to tame his wild mane with a hair-elastic.

Another thing which didn’t occur until far into the set was some form of audience connection, when Stever did his best to try and start a clap-along with the audience.
Apart from this one single thing however, there wasn’t much hope for getting the band across the edge of the stage though. Every song was played back to back, without a single second spilt in between for a little presentation or chit-chat or whatever.
This was something I sorely missed, I must admit, and since I’m not familiar with the songs I had a hard time keeping focused. Sure, there was a good atmosphere, and I was impressed at how many had shown up already (especially considering how empty the hall had been just previous to the bands arrival), but judging from the many still-standing people around me and around the room, I was not the only one who was a bit at a loss at what this was all about…

In the end, this was a magnificent show of technical know-how which just didn’t quite reach the soul.

Setlist:

In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3
Ten Speed (Of God’s Blood And Burial)
Here We Are Juggernaut
This Shattered Symphony
The Camper Velourium III: Al The Killer
Delirium Trigger
No World For Tomorrow
World Of Lines
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