Coheed and Cambria, @ The Civic, Nola
Coast Observer
Words by: L.B. Wilson lll
Photography by: Canonblue Lalley
Coheed and Cambria at the Civic Theater in New Orleans on 28 September was an intimate affair for C&C fans. The Civic Theater is a beautiful venue, and small; plaster masks and fleur de lys carved on walls remind you that this rock concert is brought to you by a building with a history of cool. With a concert capacity of 1200, The Civic doesn’t have a bad seat in the house. Fans on the floor closest to the stage were within hand-holding range of the bands, and those farthest away on the floor were no more than fifty feet away. Two balconies offered similarly close views and even though the show was well attended, the balconies offered a perfect center-stage view of all three acts. Three bars for three floors made sure that fans could get what they wanted to drink without standing in the dreaded Concert Lines.
Few musical acts bring so many different types of people together like Coheed and Cambria, and the band’s faithful are an eclectic blend of metal-heads, nerds, and hippies. Walking through the crowd before the show was an experience that nearly matched the concert itself; a sea of flannel shirts, backwards ball caps, superhero graphic tees, chain wallets, dreadlocks, Saints jerseys, high-heels, combat boots, and Crocs. Veteran metal-heads (you know the ones, the wrinkled guys that saw Sabbath at California Jam in ‘74) mingled seamlessly with 20-somethings playing PokemonGo between sets. Crowds like that don’t show up for just anyone; Coheed and Cambria’s music defies characterization, and their fans do too.
The show featured two openers; Polyphia and Saves the Day. Not to disparage either, as they both gave passable performances, watching them from the balcony was a little painful. The crowd was very clearly there for Coheed and Cambria. While the openers did their best to rock out and warm us all up, looking down at the floor the best word to describe the crowd was, unfortunately, bored.
That changed instantly with the opening melodies of “Ghost,” from Coheed and Cambria’s new album, The Color Before the Sun. Slow, haunting, and harmonic gave way to The Amory Wars and fan service and with “In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3.” The pace of the show never slowed from there, seamlessly mixing in newer Color songs with a setlist that hit all the high points, from “Blood Red Summer” to “The Crowing.” Smoke machines pumped in haze that the band’s light show capitalized on, using green and blue spotlight beams and a set of crowd-facing spotlights that occasionally punctuated the band’s choruses by flooding the Civic with white light. Frontman Claudio Sanchez brought energy to match his massive mane of hair, and Travis Stever never missed a note.
For a band with so many concept-albums and such an intriguing narrative in The Amory Wars tetralogy, Coheed and Cambria’s live show magically seems immune to the danger of playing those songs out of order or out of context. On Wednesday night, nobody noticed or, if they did, nobody cared. The crowd’s excitement and energy level might have been partially responsible for that, but there’s something impressive with the band’s technical expertise that makes their show one part rock concert and one part art gallery. It was a great show, and if you can see them live, do.
