Underoath / Thursday

live in New York (2011)

Brian Shultz

I was told that A Skylit Drive had been playing first on every night of this tour. It seemed strange, given that the band has been around longer and has an arguably larger following than the tour's other support act, instrumental metal trio Animals as Leaders. But ASD plays a brand of high-pitched sing/scream/breakdown swoop-haired rock that does not sit well with me, so I didn't mind arriving to this show at Terminal 5 last week fashionably late. Lo and behold, Animals as Leaders were up first on this show and already into their set when my friend and I entered. GREAT. I was actually looking forward to them, and they didn't disappoint, playing an approvable blend of instrumetal, prog and…beatdown? (The one dude moshing to AaL's "breakdowns" like he was watching Shattered Realm seemed to think so, anyway.) They reminded me of a cross between And So I Watch You from Afar and Russian Circles, but not nearly as energetic as either of those bands live. In fact, they really just stood there, but it's something I suppose could be forgiven given how riffy and complex their songs were. The wildly animated LCD screens that flanked them made up for it somewhat.

Then A Skylit Drive played. I tried not to pay much attention. It was often cringeworthy. A greater space opened up for kids to do their usual flailing moves, but it was just pretty embarrassing for themselves too.

One of the last times I saw Thursday was a Full Collapse show as well. And that show took place at a 550-capacity venue with no barricade (as opposed to Terminal 5's three levels and room for 3000 people). So, sure, this felt a little redundant, and I certainly wouldn't have minded a more career-spanning set with more than one new song from their anticipated full-length, No Devolución. But I won't deny that Full Collapse is a pretty important album to me, and it's got a thematic and certain flow about it that makes it timeless and unexplainably engaging. So it was still a pretty great time, and the band played it nicely. There was a strange feel to the guitar tones and overall presentation, but I'd probably just chalk that up to T5's occasionally weird sound system. The crowd was surprisingly tolerable, save wildly inconsiderate push-mosh for "Turnpike Divides", a heaving and slightly eerie finish to the set that served as the sole preview from the aforementioned No Devolución.

Set list (9:00-9:49):