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Thrice, Circa Survive, Pelican : House of Blues San Diego April 17th 2008 Once I heard that Thrice, Circa Survive and Pelican were coming to town I knew that I had to be there at the House of Blues to take in really my first show of 2008. Having seen both Thrice and Circa before I had high expectations for a night full of good music. I had also listened a little to Pelican and from what I heard they were to be pretty good as well.

Unfortunately, things beyond my control prevented me from getting there when the show started so I regrettably missed Pelican’s whole set. When I got onto 5th I could hear Circa had started their set so I got inside as soon as I could. I think when I was a little taken back when I reached the floor because I don’t think I’ve ever seen HOB that packed before, it was obviously sold out and everyone who bought a ticket was there.

I was a bit curious while I started watching Circa play because a friend who had gone to the show the day earlier, they played both Wednesday and Thursday, told me that she didn’t know what, but something sounded off about their set. Reserving judgment for myself, I watched with a friend that I came with as Anthony Green jumped around almost frantically. I have seen Circa play a handful of times before and something certainly did seem a bit off with their stage presence. The music was there, as always, but I couldn’t help but feel a bit off about how Anthony looked almost uncomfortable and just the way it all came across and I honestly can’t say that I really enjoyed their set. Even though their set seemed a bit short, they did play some songs from their first album,” Juturna”, such as “Act Appalled’ and “In Fear and Faith” as well as mixing in some of their sophomore release, “On Letting Go”.

Lastly, I was really excited to see Thrice, mainly because of their latest release of “The Alchemy Index”, which if you haven’t picked up or listened to yet, please stop reading this and go do that right now. The concept album which is composed of 4 EP’s combines each of the 4 elements: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth and is a lot different from anything they’ve released previously. It had been over 3 years since I’d seen them live so I wasn’t exactly sure to expect, but they went above and beyond anything I could imagine. The light setup they had onstage had to cost a small fortune and changed with each song, never repeating the same color schemes or patterns. To my surprise, the 3rd song they played was “Silhouette” off of “The Artist in the Ambulance” and the crowd went insane. Right after they finished Dustin finally acknowledged the crowd and explained that they were going to play a completely different set from the night before which is extremely rare and equally impressive. The mixture of the slow, mellow electronic influenced tracks off of the Water EP with powerful, shattering guitars of “Paper Tigers” that transitioned into the mostly acoustic Air tracks which was highlighted by Teppei playing the xylophone during “Broken Lungs”, I’d say they played an amazing set. Through the mix of songs, old and new and the amazing light setup, I’d have to say that just watching Thrice would have been worth every penny, I find it amazing in today’s music scene when a band can reinvent themselves and do it successfully, so if you get a chance to see them anytime soon, jump on the chance.

P.S. was it me or did Teppei’s beard make him look a little like Keanu Reeves at the end of Point Break? 

-Eric Turchick