Images: Coheed and Cambria, Glassjaw, I The Mighty, Silver Snakes March 25, 2016 at Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas

At the time of this writing, Coheed and Cambria has just wrapped up their first 2016 run for The Color Before the Sun tour with support from Glassjaw, I the Mighty, and Silver Snakes. Fortunate for Coheed fans in the southern Nevada desert, the tour made a stop at the Brooklyn Bowl here in Las Vegas, and like many, I was very excited and felt lucky to be able to cover this tour.

First to take the stage was LA’s Silver Snakes. The 4-piece rock group set the tone for the rest of the night with a great heavy paced set behind the vocals of Alex Estrada and metal-rock instrumentals of Mike Trujillo (bass), Jeremiah Bignell (guitar), and Garrett Harney (drums).  I had never heard of the guys before, but I thoroughly enjoyed the set as I shot from the pit and moved to the bowling lanes after the first 3 songs to continue watching. It appeared they also held the attention of most others on the floor, probably converting some into instant fans.  Landing a spot on a tour like this is a great step for the band and I don’t think it’ll be long before I see them around again with another big tour package.

Up next were the talented guys in I the Mighty. Being a fan of their sound since 2012’s Karma Never Sleeps, I was ecstatic to finally get to see them perform live. I was lucky enough to get to help out with the PIV acoustic session prior to the doors opening [coming soon!] so I was able to get a small taste of what was to come. Making the best of their short set, the SanFran boys kicked things off with “Lady of Death” and jumped right into songs from the latest release Connector, throwing in “The Dreamer” at mid-set from 2012’s Karma Never Sleeps. The highlights of the set were “The Lying Eyes of Miss Erray” and “Speak to Me,” which made for a perfect ending, setting up the crowd for the next act.

Glassjaw made fans wait years for new music after 2002’s Worship and Tribute record but that anticipation only seemed to make them grow in popularity. Along with the little-to-no social media presence, the band has made themselves a rarity, not to be missed when they play near you. That makes it no surprise that as soon as the house lights went down and they took the stage, they were met by cheers from their adoring crowd. They kicked off their set mostly with songs from Worship and Tribute, and fans sang along with Daryl Palumbo on “Tip Your Bartender,” “Mu Empire,” and “Pink Roses.” As the post-hardcore rockers continued on, the mosh pits and crowd surfers went into full swing through early catalogue material and even stayed strong through the new songs. Old and new fans went wild with new songs “New White Extremity” and “Shira,” and fans were left with wanting more as the guys wrapped up with another from Worship and Tribute, “Two Tabs of Mescaline.”

The anticipation began to overflow as crews cleared the stage for the main event. Claudio Sanchez and Travis Stever came out as the stage went dark and one single spotlight lit up the microphone. With Claudio and Travis wielding their acoustic guitars, the two began to play the soft jam “Ghost,” which then transitioned nicely into the intro of “In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth:3” until the heavy guitar riffs came in and the crowd sang along to the 8 minute long hit. Leading right into my personal favorite, the band played the hit “Blood Red Summer” which left me reminiscing about my middle school years spent hanging out with friends, watching this song on all the top music video countdown shows.

With hits from the previous concept albums mixed throughout, the band also played a lot from their most recent release which the tour is in support of, The Color Before the Sun. The main set reached its peak-end with 2007’s “No World for Tomorrow” and ended on The Color Before the Sun‘s “Peace to the Mountain” which built up to a great moment of everyone in attendance singing along to the words with Claudio. As the band exited and house lights went dark, the chant “Co-heed, Co-heed, Co-heed,…” began. Shortly Claudio and company re-emerged and kicked off the encore set with “You Got Spirit Kid” which had an exclamation point ending with confetti cannons shot into the crowd.

To wrap up the entire night, of course the guys had to go out with “Welcome Home” which couldn’t have been a more perfect song to end on. Claudio brought out the double necked guitar for the song and showed off his guitar trick skills. It was truly a pleasure to get to witness in the end and I’m so happy to be able to finally say I’ve had the opportunity to see Coheed and Cambria live.

-Tylor Thuirer | https://www.instagram.com/thuirer/