Concert Review - Coheed and Cambria - The Great Destroyer Tour at Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas February 17, 2022
Las Vegas, NV - On February 17th, 2022, Coheed and Cambria came to Las Vegas for a show at the Brooklyn Bowl, and they absolutely shredded for about 2 full hours as the prog-rock demigods only can.
Starting out with “In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3” off the album of the same name the band rocked through about 15 or so songs ranging from their debut album Second Stage Turbine Blade all the way up to playing “Liars” off their new upcoming album Vaxis II: A Wind of the Waking Mind.
I have seen Coheed and Cambria at least 2 other times that I can remember, but this show was by far the best. The Brooklyn Bowl had a pretty full crowd of over 1000 people from my estimation, and it seemed like EVERYBODY knew almost all the words to most songs (except the unreleased one).
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The last two times I saw C&C, I was probably the only person who really listened to anything of theirs that wasn’t one of the few songs they had as singles before. Of course, NOW the band has reeled off a pretty extensive “greatest hits” of singles from multiple albums such as “You’ve Got Spirit Kid” off the only non-concept album The Color Before the Sun and “The End Complete” and “No World For Tomorrow” off of Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World For Tomorrow.
Photo Courtesy of @astr0blaster
Of course, those are not their BIGGEST hits by any means. They are more for context of all the other songs in the grand scheme of things.
Photo Courtesy of @astr0blaster
This tour is Coheed and Cambria’s 20th Anniversary of being a band, and they can jam through their catalog in a way that I have rarely seen from any band let alone a band that has not really been a mainstream success story. C&C built a fandom from touring, merch and appearances at places like Comic Con to talk about the comic books that are the backbone of the storylines of the music (and vice versa).
It was insanely interesting to see the new songs so well blended together with the old, and it wasn’t just their biggest hits that made it onto the set list.
Photo Courtesy of @astr0blaster
A few awesome personal highlights for me was to hear songs like “Something Evil” off of the first album (Second Stage…) and move through to some of the songs I remember making them a much wider appealing band like “A Favor House Atlantic” off of the second album (In Keeping Secrets…) all the while playing the two masterpiece songs towards the end of the set - “The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut” and “Welcome Home” which are both off of Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness.
If you aren’t a fan of Coheed and Cambria, then I won’t bother explaining all the sci-fi lore that goes along with the music to make it even more compelling to listen to, but if you are a fan, you will absolutely love where the new music seems to be going.
For those who aren’t into the backstory, you will still have your face melted by insane guitar solos from both lead singer Claudio Sanchez and lead guitarist Travis Stever - as well as an added bass solo in a song (no spoiler here) from bassist Zach Cooper.
Also, if you are a fan of great drumming, then don’t sleep on one of the best rock drummers in the world (and a pretty good rapper actually) Josh Eppard. This dude makes playing some of the sickest drums look way too easy.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the funniest part of this particular show. Stever made the mistake of jumping in too early with some backing vocals on a song (I can’t remember which song now), and Sanchez seemed quite surprised as he kept looking towards Stever who sort of just turned away and played it off as best he could. I don’t think most people even noticed, but Sanchez gave the side eye of amazement / bewilderment that made for a bit of comic relief.
If you haven’t seen Coheed and Cambria live before, I always encourage you to go. This is probably the best run of them all right now too. So, the time to see them is now.
Supporting Act: Sheer Mag
Sheer Mag opened for Coheed and Cambria and did quite a commendable job. Vocalist Christina Halladay belts out rock tunes like a mix of Stevie Nicks and Axl Rose. It is quite an incredible sound they have put together.
The Philly-based band played about 7 or 8 songs, and their sound is a bit of an 80’s hair metal sound but in a modern way. If I could compare them to one band, it would probably be The Darkness in a lot of ways.
Lead guitarist Kyle Seely seemingly shreds solos on command as well, which is a really cool thing to see. The whole band played incredibly well, and had a very tight sound.
They may or may not be your cup of tea, but you can definitely appreciate their abilities, and they have a few songs that will get you bobbing your head for sure.