Thrice

Last weekend, Thrice played to a sold-out crowd at the Hard Rock Cafe on the Las Vegas Strip on Saturday, May 5th. It was an energetic performance that gave local fans, and out-of-state travelers coming to the “City That Never Sleeps”, something that they would never forget. The Southern California-based quartet is currently on a farewell tour before taking an indefinite break from the touring life. For those in attendance, it will be the last chance to see the band play for a long time, if not further down the line. . . With the night’s show, Animals as Leaders unfortunately had to cancel due to illness, which left openers O’Brother, an experimental rock group from Atlanta Georgia, to warm up the crowd who anxiously waited for Thrice to take to the stage. The venue started to fill up as O’Brother’s set wore on. Warm up the crowd, they did. They were quite impressive with their brand of rock, even drawing the quintessential calls for “Free Bird”. Singer Tanner Merritt gamely replied to the amusement of the audience that they would learn to play it one day, and do it badly. Such talents to reckon with, and should be seen.

Before Thrice’s set, photographers were given the heads up to watch out for “swimmers”. The crowd surfers would come floating in soon enough. After the lights changed and the house music died down, applause and cheers erupted from the packed floor. The stage was set upon the first fan dropping in during second song “Image of the Invisible”, nearly knocking me to the photo pit floor. Figured then that it was going to get real fun. Befitting of the road veterans that they were, Thrice powered through a 23-song set which covered songs from their decade-long recording career, before stepping back out for one more song. The band sounded comfortably awesome this night, with frontman/guitarist Dustin Kensrue stepping forward and engaging the audience. Most striking of Thrice’s music is their prolific songwriting, apart from tight musicianship of Kensrue, guitarist Teppei Teranishi, bassist Eddie Breckenridge, and drummer Riley Breckenridge. There’s something about seeing a band that has an undeniable chemistry. Between selections from last year’s “Major/Minor” (Promises, Words in the Water, Anthology), and earlier works (Identity Crisis, T & C, Deadbolt, To Awake and Avenge the Dead, Artist in the Ambulance, Silhouette, Digital Sea, Firebreather, In Exile, Beggars, etc.), one would be hard-pressed to choose even a few favorites.

The tour runs through June 18th, with the final stop at The Observatory in Santa Ana (formerly Galaxy Theatre), and they have been selling out fast if not already close to capacity. Due to overwhelming demand, The band has added two more hometown shows (House of Blues Anaheim, and Santa Ana). Those have sold out. The band has announced that they will be recording portions of the tour for a live album that is scheduled to be released in the Fall.

**Update: With all 5 Southern California hometown shows sold out, Thrice has added a final date: June 19th at the Observatory in Santa Ana. It will be a special one, with no support acts. The show will also feature an acoustic intermission. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to StandUp2Cancer.

For further info, and tour dates:

http://www.thrice.net/

https://www.facebook.com/officialthrice/app_123966167614127