Show Review: Thrice Brings Their 15th Year Vheissu Anniversary Party to The Novo
Thrice kicking things off during “Image Of The Invisible”.
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY JAZMIN LEMUS
When Thrice announced a 15 year anniversary tour for Vheissu, it sounded too good to be true. IT WAS HAPPENING. After the band released The Artist In The Ambulance, the band started to experiment with their music. First album they started to do that with was Vheissu. Although it was heading in a different direction and their sound was a bit different, I was still on board. 15 years later, I would get to relive those high school memories and make new ones as Thrice would play Vheissu in its entirety.
Joining Thrice on their celebration would be mewithoutYou, Drug Church, and Holy Fawn. The party would end in Los Angeles at The Novo on Saturday, February 29th. Ambient post-hardcore quartet Holy Fawn, would kick things off. Although they only had a 25-minute set, they brought energy with their songs “Dark Stone” and “Candy” just to name a couple. At one point during their set, they even formed a mini percussion ensemble, something you really don’t see (unless you’re at a 311 concert). With a set like that, the crowd would be ready for Drug Church.
While Holy Fawn was more mellow, there were fans in attendance who were ready to let some energy out. Drug Church would be that band for them. The post-hardcore rockers engaged with the crowd from the beginning and even if people didn’t know their music, that still didn’t stop them from dancing and moshing. During their set, Drug Church was able to fit in nine songs including popular songs, “Avoidarama” and “Strong References” off of their latest album Cheer. They also played a new song called “Bliss Out”, which was released in January. Anyone who is a fan of post-hardcore and digs bands such as Culture Abuse, Title Fight, and/or Touche Amore will enjoy this band if they haven’t had a chance to give them a proper listen. Coming up after Drug Church would be mewithoutYou.
mewithoutYou have been in the game for twenty years and a few months ago, they announced they were calling it quits. While many fans were sad about the news, they also understood and knew that this tour would also be special and a must-see since they were calling it a day. mewithoutYou dropped an 11-song set. They played songs from different eras of their career. They kicked things off with “Torches Together” off of Catch For Us The Foxes and immediately went into “9:27AM, 7/29” from their latest album [Untitled]. Other songs they played off of [Untitled] were “Julia (Or, ‘Holy To The Lord’ On The Bells Of Horses)” and “Another Head For Hydra”. While fans were singing along and enjoying the set, hardcore mewithoutYou fans knew the end of their set was approaching. A mewithoutYou set wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t hear songs off Pale Horses. The band played fan favorites off the album, which included “Mexican War Streets” and “Rainbow Signs”, which happened to be their last song of the night. It was bittersweet, but mewithoutYou left us with a performance to remember.
Up next was Thrice and boy, were we ready. I’ll admit that I was jealous of anyone in the pit who was able to move to the sounds of “Image Of The Invisible”, the first song off Vheissu. Since that song was the first single Thrice released when promoting the album, it brought some sweet memories especially since the band doesn’t really play this song live. The party was only getting started. Thrice continued on with “Between The End and Where We Lie” and moved onto a huge fan favorite “The Earth Will Shake”. For anyone who has seen the band live and has seen them play this song, then it’s no surprise that this song requires some fan participation with some clapping. With some pushing and shoving happening during this song, the set would mellow out a bit with “Atlantic” and “For Miles” to be immediately followed by “Hold Fast Hope”. For any Thrice fan who likes their harder material, this would be a song off Vheissu to release some energy during. The crowd did indeed get rowdy, but would mellow out a bit once “Music Box” kicked in. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve seen Thrice and I honestly do not think that I’ve heard this song live and if I have, it was a while back. I will also say the same about “Like Moths To Flame”. These two songs are examples of Thrice experimenting with their sound and if you pay attention, you can still hear that post-hardcore sound we’re used to. The difference is there is way less screaming and they decided to incorporate keyboards. Following “Like Moths To Flame”, Thrice would play “Of Dust And Nations”.
Being that this is a huge fan favorite for many fans (definitely my favorite off the album), people would definitely not stand around on this one. If I didn’t have my camera with me, I would’ve gone into the pit myself and take part in the dancing and shoving. Nonetheless, I still sang this one loud. Another one that fans would sing loudly would be “Stand and Feel Your Worth”, the band’s reminder to fans that we can all do good together when we use our voice and make positive actions. With the things going on in our society, this song seemed fitting to hear live. Hearing “Red Sky” as the last song on the album would be even more fitting. The minute this song hit, many fans went on to take out their phones to get some footage. For anyone who is a fan of this song, some could think that this song is about hope and rebirth. While Vheissu has eleven songs, the band still went on to play the b-sides: “Flags of Dawn”, “Weight of Glory”, and “Lullaby”. Hearing these b-sides live was a big deal because bands don’t really play b-sides and to hear Thrice play theirs is something that may not happeng again for a really long time; at least the ones for Vheissu.
The band still went on to play additional songs, all of which were from the second half of their career. The additional four songs they played were “Circles” off Beggars, “Black Honey” off To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere, “Firebreather” (another huge fan favorite) off The Alchemy Index and “Words In The Water” off Major/Minor to finish off the night.
To anyone who is a fan of Thrice, has seen them in the past, and was lucky to attend this tour, knows that this wasn’t the usual Thrice show; 1) because we got to hear Vheissu live in its entirety and 2) because the additional songs the band played were not their most popular songs they typically perform. I’m one happy camper because I got to experience a special Thrice show that I may not get to experience again. The great thing about Thrice is that they have been at it for many years and they still find ways to surprise fans. I love Thrice. I hope they never stop.
You can check out photos of the show here and while you’re at it, give all the bands a listen?!
