Thrice have been trekking across the United States for the past month in support of their new album, Horizons/East, and brought L.A.'s, Touche Amore, along for the ride. The tour's end is on the horizon and Scene Point Blank was there as the tour inched closer and closer to home. While not Orange County, the band took the stage some-80 miles south to a warm homecoming crowd in San Diego.
Amid the ongoing pandemic, there are still some hesitations and concerns from bands, as well as fans of live music, about the type of environment performing can create. Despite the safety protocols the bands have been trying to follow while on the road, Self Defence Family had to drop out at the eleventh hour of the tour after a member contracted COVID. Touche Amore were willing to fill in the void by playing longer set.
A bit of a homecoming for them as well, the band came out and were as energetic as ever with a fair amount of their own fans in the crowd. They've been supporting their own new album, Lament, that came out this time last year while everything was shut down. The band showcased new songs like title track, "Lament," and "Reminders," as well as blistering through older tracks like "Just Exist" from ...Is Survived By and "~" from the band's second album, Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me, and the appropriately titled for the holiday, "New Halloween" from Stage Four. Their performance never slowed down and was the perfect warm-up to Thrice.
Thrice took the stage just a little after 9 and kicked things off with the new album opener, "The Color of the Sky" and the first single off Horizons/East, "Scavengers." Both added an extra punch to the already powerful studio recordings... and they wouldn't be the only ones. "Dandelion Wine," "Summer Set Fire to the Rain," and especially "Buried in the Sun" all translated magnificently to the live setting. "Robot Soft Exorcism" had an accompanying light show that made the whole performance particularly engrossing like you're the one in the "machine."
The band made sure to entice the older fans with title track, "The Artist in the Ambulance" from their major-label debut or "Of Dust and Nations" and "The Earth Will Shake" from the critically acclaimed, Vheissu. An album of which the band did an anniversary tour early last year just before everything came to a halt.
Throughout the night, Thrice continued to jump around their extensive discography, giving almost every album a spotlight, but I had a personal awakening towards the end of the set. The band went into "The Long Defeat" from their 2016 album, To Be Everywhere is to Be Nowhere, and as the track was hitting its closing lines, all was quiet except for the fans repeatedly singing in unison, "together we'll fight the long defeat." It was beautiful and carried extra weight given the state of the world we're in, and was a moment that's still resonating strongly with me the morning after.
The band walked off after Alchemy Index's, "Firebreather," and encored with the intimate, "Beyond the Pines" before closing the night with the all-encompassing "Anthology" from Major/Minor. It was a wonderful show with lots of positives vibes, which is something we could all use more of. Thrice only has a few dates left on their Horizons/East tour, but I encourage the vaccinated to make it out to their Phoenix show or their Hollywood date (their final show in Anaheim is already sold out) if you feel comfortable. If you have to wait it out until the next tour, then use the time to encourage others to get vaccinated because live music is special, and it's the only way to "fight the long defeat."
