Aug 16

Aug 16 Show Review: Coheed and Cambria Bring 'Vaxis II' To Life In Berkeley

Coheed and Cambria
w/ Alkaline Trio, Holy Wars
UC Greek Theatre
Berkeley, CA
August 14th, 2022

Photos and Review by Jared Stossel

To get to the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, you must pass by rows upon rows of fraternity and sorority housing. Driving up to one of the parking structures, I saw a house with fraternity bros in tank tops, setting up a beer pong table, and blasting what I’m sure was some kind of hip-hop playlist they found on Spotify. I was immediately brought back to my college years; this was not my world. I avoided the party scene at school a lot, with a couple of exceptions. I wasn’t cool. I was (and still am) socially awkward, and someone who would rather find solace in listening to music blasting through my headphones than have to make small talk with a bunch of people I’ve never met for hours on end. The party scene wasn’t my home; rock music was my home. This brief passing moment made me realize how grateful I was to be heading to the show I was attending on Sunday evening, which found Coheed & Cambria, one of rock’s most underrated acts, headlining the Greek Theatre, with support from two truly great bands, Alkaline Trio and Holy Wars.

The latter opened the show, filling in for Mothica (who had to cancel several performances due to illness). Holy Wars is an up-and-coming alternative rock act from Los Angeles. Their music is interesting, as it blends elements of hard rock, alternative, and industrial all into one package. The leader of the group, Kat Leon, is a charismatic and powerful front woman, and a natural performer. Being the opener on a bigger tour like this can be challenging, since you’re playing to the room as people are starting to filter in from outside. Holy Wars gave it their all with an engaging performance that kicked off the evening properly, and you’d have thought that they were playing to a full amphitheater with the way that they were owning the stage.

The legendary Alkaline Trio took the stage for a set filled with hits from throughout their decades-long tenure, bringing up the energy level before our headliner took the stage. This is my third time seeing Alkaline Trio, and it’s always a pleasure to see this band in action. They’re one of the tightest sounding bands in punk, managing to rip their way through song after song with ease. Co-vocalist and guitarist Matt Skiba has been on the road quite a bit in recent years with another legendary pop-punk act, Blink-182, but it’s been nice to see Alkaline Trio getting back on the road. The band’s last record, Is This Thing Cursed?, was released in 2018, so with any luck, we’ll be getting some new music in the future. Oddly, the crowd was relatively calm throughout the punk trio’s set, a stark contrast from when I saw them perform with Bad Religion last year.

Earlier in this article, I said that Coheed and Cambria is one of rock’s most underrated bands, and I stand by that statement, particularly after witnessing Sunday’s show. They have a cinematic quality to them, a theatricality that is so unique to them that I don’t see a lot of acts witnessing. I’d put My Chemical Romance in this category as well; a modern rock band where every album is a concept, a story that takes you into another world. Coheed have been doing this for twenty years, and I’ve always been surprised that they’re not headlining arenas. As the Iron Maiden track playing over the P.A. system fades out, a giant inflatable that looks like a creature from the Upside Down in Stranger Things expands and towers over the stage. The show has begun, and Coheed and Cambria launch into pieces of stories they’ve been telling for stories, bringing the Amory Wars storyline they’ve been crafting for years to life for the next ninety minutes.

While the band made sure to include all the crowd-favorite hits, a good deal of tracks came from their epic new album Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind, which was released at the end of June. Songs like “In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3” and “Window of the Waking Mind” are some of the longest tracks in the band’s catalogue, but to see them live is an even more powerful experience than just listening to it at home or in your car. The crowd knew every word, whether the songs were old or new. I love attending Coheed shows because it doesn’t really matter what album they’re performing: the fans are going to scream every word right back to them. The audience was the most alert and engaged as I’d seen them all evening throughout the duration of their set, and they weren’t taking a single moment for granted. There were several moments throughout the evening where vocalist and guitarist Claudio Sanchez just looked out into the audience and didn’t even bother going to the microphone; the crowd took over from there. It took a full verse for him to start singing on “A Favor House Atlantic” (one of my favorite tracks from the band), simply because the crowd’s singing was drowning out the band. There are so few bands in rock that have a following like this, and it brings a smile to my face every single time I see them perform.

I could have watched this band go for another hour; I’d genuinely love to see them do a full album tour with an even larger budget and bring one of these albums to life in a grandiose fashion. A standard Coheed and Cambria tour is anything but standard; it’s a must-see event, and one that defies expectations. It’s ironic that they closed out their show with “Welcome Home” given what I wrote about at the beginning of this review. Whenever I hear that riff, whenever I end up at a show like this….well, what other way is there to say it? I’m home.

Coheed and Cambria Set List
Prologue
The Dark Sentencer
The Gutter
The Embers of Fire
Beautiful Losers
Shoulders
The Running Free
A Disappearing Act
In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
Ghost
Blood
The Liar’s Club
Everything Evil
Blood Red Summer
A Favor House Atlantic
Window of the Waking Mind

Encore:
The Suffering
Welcome Home