Underoath + Thursday @ Metropolis

Remember those old CJLO reviews of yore? The “Goodness Goes to the Emo Show”?  Ah yes, they brought many a smile to your indie rock/hipster curmudgeon faces.  I’ve been a fan of New Brunswick, New Jersey’s Thursday for quite a while. Their album Full Collapse was probably one of the last vestiges of good music from the emo/screamo scene that was picking up steam in the early 2000s.  Frankly, from whatever wave of "emo" that record came out during (4th maybe?), Thursday was probably one of only 3 good bands at the time within a genre that proceeded to dilute itself into such a disgusting display of style over substance. Seriously, people, we’re in a world where Brokencyde is a going concern. But I digress, Thursday was in town on this co-headlining tour with metalcore/screamo kids Underoath promoting the 10^th anniversary of Full Collapse by performing it in its entirety.

The main thing I noticed walking into Metropolis was, “wow…where the heck is everyone?”. Similar to when I saw Thursday perform on the Taste of Chaos tour a couple years back (yeah…I braved the flat-iron hair and guyliner for that one, kids. I’m a trooper), attendance was low. The balcony was closed off, and it seemed like the floor was only two-thirds full. Granted, it was Valentine’s day, so some of these emo kids might have been at home writing in their diaries or penning bad lyrics about whoever slighted them on this day for their new fashioncore band – or, maybe this Nth wave of emo has finally died.  Maybe - and God please make this so - maybe this bastardization of the “genre” that, to begin with, was dealt a bad rap with its ridiculous tag has officially killed it all off for good.  Maybe.  Time will tell, but like I said: hoo boy, attendance was not the best.  And this wasn’t even the beginning of the show; I showed up after the first few openers, since my patience for bad emo music is not what it once was, only to see the hall still wasn't full.

Finally, Thursday took the stage to the intro music of Full Collapse.  The crowd moved closer to the stage, but it didn’t have much of an effect; if anything, the compacting of the crowd towards the front made the hall look even emptier, and moving up close to the front was probably the easiest manoeuvre I’ve ever had to do at a show before.  Now let’s put something into perspective: when I said I liked Thursday, I wasn’t kidding.  I’ve seen the band every time they’ve played Montreal. The first time, at a crowded hardcore show at the old Rainbow venue, still stands as one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.  I’ve watched the band grow musically to a post-hardcore/post-rock hybrid on their great, but sadly much maligned amongst fans, album A City by the Light Divided.  And then I saw the band end up at a confused point in their career when they took four steps backwards on their last record, the monotonous Common Existence. 

Unfortunately, as the band’s output has slipped recently, their once explosive live performance seems to have suffered as well; there was a reason I kept coming back to see these guys live, and sadly the last two times I have, I left pretty disappointed. They seemed tired and completely bored, or just lacked the drive they once had in spades.  Frankly, had the nostalgia factor not played a part here in wanting to see them perform Full Collapse in its entirety and getting to hear a couple songs I had never seen them play live, this would have been the first time I would have sat out on seeing Thursday play Montreal.

The good news was this was a definite turn for the better for the band. They powered through the entire Full Collapse album seamlessly. Songs like “Concealer” sounded so good live that it’s a wonder they’ve never included them in their usual sets more often. Vocalist Geoff Rickly, routinely derided for being off key and sometimes earning the nickname of “Tone-Geoff” for not really having the best voice, seems to have honed his vocal imperfections into a steady performance. He’s never sounded this good before, as a lot of people remarked afterwards. That being said, some issues were noticeable.  While the guys ran through the songs without a hitch, it almost seemed like the rambunctious verve of their heyday was completely gone.  The unbridled passion they once had when they performed live seems to have dulled to a point of only popping up here and there, and at times it seemed like guitarist Steve Pedulla was just strumming away in his corner, while keyboardist Andrew Everding, usually extremely energetic and a focal point of the band’s live show, was looking seemingly lost or bored, tucked away in another corner playing third guitar most of the set.  Everyone was playing great, but they were only doing that – playing.  There really didn’t seem to be any investment in it; it almost seemed like they were going through the motions. That's not something I’ve come to expect from these guys.

However, flashes of their past self were more than evident when they played a brand new song called “Turnpike Divides” from their forthcoming album.  It was there that I could see that these guys seem to still have that intensity they used to. Maybe they're just bored of treading on past achievements and are hungry for some enthusiastic recognition for new material.  If the quality of “Turnpike Divides” is an apt sampling of the new record, then I think these guys may have gotten their wish – perfectly walking a fine line between post-hardcore and shoegaze. Things seem to look good for the bands future output. Complaints aside, this was definitely the best of the last three times I've seen them. Fingers crossed, given the passion they displayed performing the new track, all hope may not be lost. I guess time will tell. 

Having seen Underoath twice before, I decided to stay and check out a bit of their set for a couple of reasons: even though I’m not a fan, they do put on a good show, and I was curious to see how the band would be performing old material following the severe blow of losing their drummer/singer Aaron Gillespie prior to the writing and recording of their latest album, Ø (Disambiguation).  Gillespie sang a good bulk of the older songs, split with main vocalist/screamer Spencer Chamberlain, and to my knowledge was the only remaining original member of the band. That’s a pretty huge loss for a band.

So how did they fare?  Well, since the last time I saw these guys many years ago they seem to have acquired a preeeetty extensive lighting rig that was timed perfectly to their set.  And to top that off, they had a huge screen behind them with constant projections that didn’t seem ridiculous or pointless; they were actually extremely well done and were nice to watch, contrary to the other situations I’ve encountered of bands using projections. I was honestly quite impressed with the visuals these guys had going on.

Performance-wise, Underoath was pretty “on” the whole time.  Their energetic performance and visual razzle-dazzle may have held my attention for a good portion of their set, but the band could use a re-jig of their setlist; by the halfway point the set took an aimless dive into poorly selected songs and I ended up zoning out.  Guitarist Timothy McTague and Chamberlain split Gillespie’s vocal parts between them for the older songs, and surprisingly it worked out okay, even if it felt like something was a bit lacking. I’m sure in time these guys will be able to move past that as long as their fans are willing to. While I wasn’t too into their music, it’s pretty clear these Florida boys have ably crossed that divide between “amateur-musicians-surprisingly-achieving-success” to full on “professional musicians”.  The only question now is if they can maintain their fanbase, and judging from the attendance mentioned above, the jury is still out.

-Omar Goodness, host of Hooked on Sonics