Coheed and cambria
DINOSAUR PILE-UP KOKO, LONDON
Sci-fi prog stars rev up their time machine
DINOSAUR PILE-UP [7] sure make a racket. Their red-raw garage rock, influenced by Nirvana, Melvins and the scrappy sensibilities of Foo Fighters’ self-titled debut, is hardly progressive stuff, yet it’s a reminder of just how thrilling simple, balls-to-the-the wall riffery can be. It’s stupidly hot outside, but as far as COHEED AND CAMBRIA [8] fans are concerned, the opportunity to see the band play their 2005 album, Good Apollo, I’m Burning..., in full is one worth losing 10 pints of sweat over. Performing the album in order means that Coheed get Welcome Home, their best-loved song and traditional set-closer, out of the way early but even after that, the set never wilts. This feels like a truly special night. Some of these tracks, especially The Willing Well II and III, have barely been played in the last decade and it’s testament to the strength of the songwriting on Good Apollo... that a histrionic prog record, based on a sci-fi storyline, can still connect on such a mass level. Tonight is about reliving past glories, but Coheed will only ever have their heads in the future, making music that sounds conceptually and sonically ahead of its time more than a decade later.