While the Boston Red Sox lifted a curse by winning the World Series last week, Claudio Sanchez, singer and guitarist for indie progressive-concept rockers Coheed and Cambria, hasn’t lifted his Seattle curse.
Sanchez and the rest of his band mates have played in the Emerald City twice during the last year, and both were seemingly star-crossed performances marred by sound and health issues. When the band performed last year at the Catwalk Club in Pioneer Square, Sanchez was coming off a sore throat and continually apologized to the crowd for his poor performance. Near the end of the set, he labeled the show the band’s “worst performance ever.”
Coheed’s most recent stop in Seattle, Saturday night at the Premier, made the Catwalk performance seem like a night with the Boston Philharmonic.
Besides the sore throat incident last year, evidence for the existence of a Seattle curse reared its head Saturday. Sanchez lost a contact lens near the end of the set and complained of a headache due to the near-blinding lights that were continually flashed on the band and crowd during the show. Sanchez’s headache may have accounted for his band’s less-than-inspiring show.
For a new club, the Premier’s sound setup was awful. Bassist Mic Todd told the crowd the show was a “barnyard dance,” in reference to the venue’s wooden ceiling and warehouse-like appearance.
Sanchez’s soprano vocals were tinny and echoed through the venue, and Todd’s backup vocals couldn’t be heard for half the performance. Many of the songs the group performed, including “Devil in Jersey City” and “A Favor House Atlantic,” sounded as if a cover band performed them.
The group’s musical style resembles Rush without drummer Neal Peart. The focus in Coheed is on the stories its songs tell as well as the distinctive riffing of Sanchez and guitarist Travis Stever. The band is touring behind its latest release In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, a concept record. The album tells the story of two characters, Coheed and Cambria, and is a sequel to the group’s debut The Second Stage Turbine Blade.
On the record the songs are lengthy forays into the realm of progressive rock, an area many rock musicians shy away from. Live, the songs aren’t nearly as impressive as when listened to on a home stereo. Critics have lauded the album, and the band has a loyal fan base even though it puts on poor live shows — at least in Seattle, that is.
However, as the Red Sox showed the nation, curses can be lifted. It just takes 86 years to do so.
