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There's some bands that I'm never
sure exactly what sort of crowd they'll draw. Sure, there's lots of bands that
you could guess down to the shoes how their fans will be dressed and act. Due
to the nature of the other bands playing tonight I expected the crowd to be
quite emo-riffic, but Coheed and Cambria's sound is a bit harder to pin down,
and the look of their fans would be the same..
Arriving at Portland's Meow
Meow we found a line that stretched around the block, and of course the
plug eared emo kids were out in force. But there was also some punks, and some
people that looked like they should have been simply dumping their kids off at
the show, not waiting in line to hear the bands. This is always a delight to
see. LUM was opening up
this show, and I'd seen them less than 48 hours before at a house show in
Bend. Tonight's performance was even more energetic and sounded much better
then their Bend show, but the crowd didn't seem to be very into them, except
for a few hardcore fans. Their set ended, and Hopesfall
began setting up their gear. I'd only heard one song from this band before,
and was expecting a lame metalcore performance. They started playing and while
their sound could be lumped into the metalcore genre it was anything but lame.
They put on a very very energetic and frenzied performance, and the crowd ate
it up completely. I hate to say that musically they didn't' present anything I
hadn't heard before. Screaming vocals turning into softer melodies, soft
guitars that swell to thrashing heights, just like a ton of other bands out
there today. But they did a really good job of presenting what they do.
The
next band to set up was Onelinedrawing, if you could call Onelinedrawing
a band. It's actually comprised of just one man-Jonah, his electric guitar,
and a small R2D2 toy that's got some programmed drum beats for some background
noise. Despite this he managed to put on one of the most entertaining
performances I've seen in quite some time. His incredible voice, and superb
guitar work were a surprise to see, and his banter with the crowd was just as
fun to watch. At one point during a break between songs someone in the crowd
yelled out "Play Eye Of The Tiger!!!", and Jonah stopped for a
minute, then proceeded to bust out his own improvised version of the song, but
called "Eye of the Vagrant." His R2D2 was preset to bust out drum
beats, and even contributed it's own beeps and squeals that sounded like they
came direct from the movies. These melded perfectly with his guitar work and
singing, and the geek in me appreciated this quite a bit. Overall
Onelinedrawing put on an incredible set, and I highly recommend you catch them
live if you can
Coheed
and Cambria were the headliner for this show, and I was rather surprised
at the appearance of lead singer Claudio. If you've listened to their music
you'll know that his voice is pretty high, many people have told me they
thought the singer for the band was a girl even. His voice reminds me of the
vocals in Rush, and I do like the Rush. Anyways, his vocals foolishly made me
expect a smaller fellow, perhaps girly looking. The hulking, afro haired and
bespectacled figure on the stage made it hard to believe that the incredible
sounds were coming from his throat. Perhaps that hair covered a hidden speaker
belting out the vocals. As I mentioned earlier, the crowd for this show was
really diverse, but one common thread held true, everyone there loved Coheed,
and the sound of their collective voices threatened to drown out the band on
some of the more popular songs. They played a good range of songs off of their
release -The Second Stage Turbine Blade, and even a couple of new tunes from
an upcoming LP. All of the bands tonight put on a great performance, and it's easily
one of the best shows I've had the pleasure of attending.
