Fauxtography & Sound: Thrice, Circa Survive, & Pelican @ Electric Factory, 5/9/08

As a venue, The Electric Factory has its ups and downs. The 21-and-over-only balcony is a blessing for the older set, though some shorter members of the younger set would dearly love access to its unrestricted views. The door-security measures (patting down and wanding?!) seem draconian but are representative of the club's policy of proactively preserving the peace. I observed door security being instructed to prevent anyone from cutting in line--not something most venues bother worrying about.

Depending on the artist performing, the Electric Factory frequently enforces a strict no-camera rule (see the wanding mentioned above). This is a bitter pill for photography enthusiasts and a screaming mess for anyone parked too far away to put their camera back in their car. Being told to simply throw out your batteries isn't much fun when you're rocking a $40+ lithium-ion battery.

The Electric Factory is at once surprisingly intimate for such a big club and also A Big Deal. Concerts at the venue are exciting and vibrant, resulting in better performances and more-involved audiences than some nearby venues.

On a chilly, wet Friday, fewer than 100 die-hard fans huddled in their hoodies a half hour before the doors opened, anxious to secure a coveted barrier or balcony view of the show. Drawings by local children graced the box office, welcoming hometown heroes Circa Survive back to Philadelphia as the second opening act:

Pelican's opening set found the venue mostly filled and eager to warm up. Their tight instrumental rock, while a good match for some of Thrice's excesses, was not the moshable, danceable, or singable music that the crowd was hoping for. Pelican delivered an excellent set that was wasted on the attentive, if not invested, crowd.

Hometown boys Circa Survive, however, were greeted with deafening fervor. Singer Anthony Green drove the crowd wild, frequently leaning way out over the edge of the stage, exhorting fans with expressive arms to sing along, sing louder, get moving. The audience responded with enthusiasm, singing and waving back at him throughout the show. At least a third of the audience was clearly there for Circa Survive; they could be seen mashed against the barrier, singing every lyric without fail, or moshing like crazy in the middle of the room. Green launched himself into their waiting arms halfway through the set and lost one of his shoes before he emerged from the sea of waving arms. He performed the rest of the night barefoot. (A shoe--presumably his--was helpfully tossed on stage during the next song.) The crowd surfing, not infrequent throughout Circa's set, was particularly fast and furious during their last song.

Thrice, pulling from their varied back catalog and their recent four-volume release, have been changing their set lists at each show on this tour. At each show they have been performing approximately:

2 songs from Fire
2 songs from Water
3-4 songs from Earth
2 songs from Air
3 songs from Vheissu
3 songs from Artist in the Ambulance
1-2 songs from Illusion of Safety

A number of old-school Thrice fans (particularly those planning to mosh) are disappointed by how little of Thrice's earliest, angriest sound is being performed on this tour. But though the band's sound has evolved, the old classics still sound fresh and lively in concert.

At this show, singer Dustin Kensrue and lead guitarist Teppei Teranishi (on acoustic guitar) started things off with the quiet, haunting "The Lion and the Wolf" off the newest record. The restrained choice doubtless left a large number of attendees scratching their heads. But after only one verse, the opening electronic distortion of "Fire Breather" put an end to the folksy opener and slammed the show into full, throbbing life.

Perhaps it was the venue and the riled-up crowd, or perhaps it was simply that Kensrue's voice was back in form (he had been nursing it not a week before in Richmond, Va.), which allowed Thrice to play some of their harder songs. Either way, Thrice played an electric set to an ecstatic audience. Harder songs like "The Messenger" and "Dead Bolt" whipped the mosh pit into a frenzy. The band also delivered stunning performances on the spooky "Digital Sea" and the epic prog-rock "Daedalus." Newer songs "Come All You Weary" and "Broken Lungs" sounded better in concert than they do on the albums, though the crowd lost some energy due to their lack of familiarity with the material.

All too soon, the set wrapped up with roaring stomper "Earth Will Shake." Two extra drums were brought side-stage so that Thrice crew members could beat out the violent ending alongside drummer Riley Breckenridge. The crowd went wild and shrieked the final lines over and over with Kensrue: