photo credit: weworemasks

Well, folks. This is the last “last tour” I would want to be reviewing. Since 2001, Thrice has been a mainstay in my musical emergence, maturation and all that mushy stuff. It was good to be presented with a weekend opportunity to catch them twice: once in Austin and once in our hometown. So we rallied up our closest friends who were Thrice fans, trekked to Austin to catch a set for fun, and trekked back home to catch what would probably be our last Thrice show for sentimental and blog purposes.

I’m going to go ahead and throw this out there: this is an incredibly biased recap; if you’re here to see what was wrong with it, you’re looking in the wrong place. Hit the jump for the review, setlists and photos.

-grizzly

photo credit: weworemasks

While both O’Brother and Animals as Leaders were great openers for the tour and had thrilling sets both nights, our friends and ourselves were there for Thrice. The grungy, sludge-rock of O’Brother and proggy noodling of Animals as Leaders were merely the h’orderves. Prior to the tour, Thrice set up an online poll where fans could vote for specific old songs that would eventually find their way to the stage, so everyone was curious to know what made the cut. Not that Thrice has ever had trouble putting together a balanced setlist, but this particular set touched base on every major release the band had put out.

photo credit: weworemasks

The Breckenridge brothers, Teppei Teranishi and Dustin Kensrue showed that they practiced plenty, as they had no miscues throughout each 25-song, hour and forty-five minute set. The crowds were both packed and supportive, as fans from all eras of the bands came to hear songs from their favorite albums. Hell, even the Identity Crisis folks got to take home two songs. As it’s always been through the years, fan favorites like “Deadbolt” and basically anything from The Artist in the Ambulance was shown the most love, but the band shined particularly well on more focused jams like “Daedalus,” “Of Dust and Nations” and to Houston’s treat, “The Whaler.”

photo credit: weworemasks

We’re sure that the band was particular happy to see fans pack both Emo’s East [ed note: first time in the new venue, I loved it!] and Warehouse Live’s Ballroom from wall to wall, as the spirit was alive and the spirits were both a comfort and a distraction from the ruckus of loud songs and sadness of the — well, sad songs. The most obvious theme in the setlists was surely sing-a-longs. From having over a 1000 people yell back “Image of the Invisible” to everyone singing the ‘whoas’ and ‘ohs’ of “Words in the Water” and “Firebreather,” everything seemed setup to bring everyone together.

And sure, a double encore is quite cheesy, but the apparent separation of a “fun” encore and a “real” encore makes a lot of sense. The “fun” one consisted of “Phoenix Ignition” and loooong since-retired “T&C,” in all of its southern California gang vocal glory. The “real” encore came in “Anthology” whose lyrics recycle older Thrice lyrics for the lone fact of making everyone remember this veteran rock band through the years.

photo credit: weworemasks

[SETLIST]

Note: Houston-only tracks are denoted with ( ), while Austin-only tracks will be marked with an *.

Yellow Belly
Image of the Invisible
The Artist in the Ambulance
Kill Me Quickly
Under a Killing Moon
Silhouette
In Exile
The Weight
Promises
Daedalus
Words in the Water
Of Dust and Nations

*Firebreather*
*Broken Lungs*
*Digital Sea*

The Earth Will Shake

(Red Sky)
(The Messenger)
(The Whaler)

Stare at the Sun
Deadbolt
To Awake and Avenge the Dead
Beggars
–
Come All You Weary
Phoenix Ignition
T&C
–
Anthology

[ed/fan note: Seriously, I told myself I wouldn’t be sentimental with this one, but Thrice has kept putting out records I both enjoy greatly and reflect my personal musical growth. It sucks that the good times are ending, but I’m happy that the band has gotten to be a big part of my iPod, band shirt collection and more importantly – this website. We’ve gotten the opportunity to interview the band 3 times, cover probably 9 of their shows, photograph them 5 times and I personally saw them live 25 times. Thanks goes to: all my friends who I got to hang out with in Austin & Houston at the shows who made it less/more sad, booze, air guitars and sweating in the photo pit. Good luck to the band in all their personal endeavors, and Godspeed, you OC rockers! -Roshan]