Story and Photos: Spencer Fleming
Sunday night (7.28.24) was a scorcher both on stage and off! Coheed & Cambria was in town supporting Primus on their summer tour. This leg also featured the openers Too Many Zooz. With an early 6:00 start the weather was still in the low 90s, but that didn't stop the die-hard Coheed and Primus fans from packing it in at the Astro. I arrived to find both parking lots full and had to park in a nearby field. But that's ok, we made it inside just in time for Too Many Zooz.
These guys were a bit out of left field but they did a good job kicking off the show. They are a three piece of trumpet saxophone and drums. With all instrumentals this was definitely a change from the norm but the crowd was clapping along and having fun.
At 6:45 the venue filled with sounds of an incoming space armada. The legendary space-prog-masters Coheed & Cambria took the stage to much applause. I was so excited for this show. This was my 10th Coheed show overall and my third time getting to shoot photos. They always put on an amazing show and the photos are just as killer. Claudio has such a range of emotions and stances it makes for a really fun shoot.
The band kicked off the set with the classic "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3". My heart rejoiced as it's not only a fan-favorite but one of my personal favorites as well. Aside from the sea of Coheed shirts in the crowd you could tell their fans were out in full force from the loud singing. As the chorus came to a climax everyone shouted out "Man Your Own Jackhammer!" in unison sending chills down my spine.
Claudio had such awesome movements whipping his hair back and forth and holding his guitar high in the air as he proceeded to shred. Travis and Zach flanked Claudio and provided some amazing harmonies while Josh did his best Michael Jordan impression constantly sticking his tongue out while slapping the skins.
There were so many great highlights in the set from "Ten Speed" to "The Crowing" there was something for everyone. I was surprised one of the biggest pops of energy actually came from "Shoulders" and "Liar's Club" both cuts off Coheed's newest release Vaxis II: A Window Of The Waking Mind. This was great to see as new fans are always a plus.
As the set was coming to a close Claudio brought out the legendary double neck guitar for "Welcome Home". The crowd cheered in excitment as Coheed melted their faces with weedelee weedelees and whoa oh ohs! Claudio even played the guitar behind his back at one point elciting even more whoops from the folks in the first couple rows.
Though I wished the set could have been a bit longer Coheed absolutely demolished the stage and left the crowd with their jaws on the floor. This band delivers the goods every time! I was so thrilled to be able to capture their awesomenss once again.
As the sun was starting to set it was time for the headliners Primus! I've listened to Primus over the years exclusively through the radio and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater soundtrack.
When my brothers and I were younger we subscribed to Playstation Magazine and over the summer they would send you a demo disc of all the games coming out in the fall. One of the games happened to be THPS (the first one). It was a playable demo but it only had one level and one song. That song was "Jerry Was A Race Car Driver" by Primus. I'm convinced that song is burned into my brain from the hours and hours we spent playing the demo. This game was like nothing we'd ever seen before. I distinctly remember we got so excited we pre-ordered it at the mall. The funny thing is there was only one or two people at our school that even knew about the game before it came out. When I went to pick it up I guess I expected to see thousands of skateboard kids like us clamoring for a copy. This was not the case. Oh well, we were stoked to play all the levels and not get "Jerry" even further etched into our minds from playing on repeat.
Primus came out to much fanfare as their leader Les Claypool did what he does best and thumpped the bass. Les is known to be one of the greatest bass players of all time and I can definitely dig on that, but they're just not in my lane. I stuck around for some pictures and talked to some fellow Coheed fans before calling it an early night. If Primus is your jam I'm sure it was incredible. Different strokes for different folks. Overall it was an amazing evening and I'm incredibly grateful for these opportunities.
Thanks for reading and we'll see you at the next one!
Huge thanks to Coheed Management and Mammoth Live and The Astro for photo access.
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Coheed & Cambria
