Proving that talent and success aren’t just proven in record sales – Thursday stands among the best performance acts around.
As the Jersey-based band entered the stage to a fully excited and cheering Chicago audience, front man Geoff Rickly raises his left arm in confidence. Shadowed in the darkness of the Bottom Lounge, all sit in anticipation for those first harsh and abrasive tones (“For the Workforce, Drowning”) to clamp down our ears and drag the audience through an hour and a half of hell…
And so begins another day on the job for Thursday, the New Jersey Post-Hardcore outfit currently on tour with Fall of Troy and Young Widows.
With guitarist Steve Pedulla and Tom Keeley dolling-out crushing riffs and massive sounds, the band quickly drove their set through the come-to-expect 1-2 combination punch of “Between Rupture and Rapture,” and “Division St” from the band’s 2003 release of War All the Time. Just as things were hitting an open stretch of highway, little heard Andrew Everding chimed in with a cold touch of the keys to add a needed spot from the creepy dept. in the band’s trio of “The Other Side of the Crash/Over and Out (of Control),” the surprising “Paris In Flames” and “Understanding In A Car Crash.”
As he was recovering (possibly as a brief intermission for the band to catch its breath) lead singer Rickly launched into his traditional, mid-show rant – tonight’s lesson: “staying true to yourself and standing up in what you believe in.” “Friends in the Armed Forces,” featured Rickly at both his finest vocal shredding and also was the most intimate show moment during an introspective and whispered lyric of, “Stay with me now,” quickly followed the “preachy” moment.
Only stopping briefly to gather himself off the floor, Geoff and co. quickly followed up their first Common Existence single with the blistering “Autobiography of a Nation” and “Beyond the Visible Spectrum” to close out the mid-section of the evening.
Spotted echoing piano licks, quickly building airy vocals and giant black balloons in a sea of white strobe lighting, the new “Circuits of Fever” brought a much needed production number for this worn down audience. Though the bass (provided by a United Nations’ Bassist**) was bit weak in the knees, drummer Tucker Rule provided enough backing to help the rhythm section hold together.
As a side note, if anyone has doubts that this band can pull off a production number, just check out a video of the song on YouTube from this past Spring’s Taste of Chaos tour.
With our lead vocalist leaping into the audience to begin “Sugar in the Sacrament” to close out the initial set – one could only look on to the band in revelry at how this group truly is able to marry their emotional content and sounds together to create, for lack of better terms, one hell of a show.
Upon dropping the mic, Rickly stumbled off stage to join his group for a much needed rest.
A two song encore began with the group’s last new song from Common Existence for the evening, “Subway Funeral,” and just as you think the performance or the band can’t give anymore, then comes the crowd favorite “Jet Black New Year,” which saw our fearless leader climb to unthinkable heights up the venue’s wall of amps.
Thursday performed extremely well and with great precision for the songs they put on display; notable numbers: “Jet Black New Year,” “Circuits of Fever” and “Division St” (best live version I’ve heard). Minus a few missteps from the sound op, Guitarist Keeley who seemed to cower behind his amp tower for the first 1/3rd of the show and no great variations on the a-typical Thursday set list; this show was rock solid.
Overall this is by far the best performance of this band I have seen in the last five years – Rule’s drumming has improved, Rickly’s vocals were strong and spot-on and the band (as a whole) were as confident as ever in themselves, which is no small feat given the amount of changes and acrobatics the group has seen in the past few years; one can tell they are happier than ever to finally be back where they belong.
Time, perseverance, fortitude, strong studio material and passion is what great bands are made of. Many have tried, few have succeeded but to this industry, and more importantly to their fans, Thursday show they can stand and deliver as one of the best acts around anywhere.
Overall Show Grade: A
*- Bassist name has been omitted as United Nations has a lineup consisting of masked-faced members who are in a revolving door; Geoff Rickly did not divulge the musician’s name during his introduction.
Written by M.W. Miles
