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LIVE REVIEWS

Fall of Troy, Coheed and Cambria, and Clutch at The Wiltern, Los Angeles

"It's ugly outside," I thought to myself. It was one of those days where you just wanted to lay in bed and just lay back all day and do nothing. But then the thought of missing two bands I've never seen before was well worth my time to get up off my ass and rock out like it was saturday night all over again. Party on.

The only band I've ever seen live on this bill was Clutch. I saw them at Ozzfest, I don't even remember when, but from what I remembered, they were good. I have never seen Coheed and Cambria nor The Fall of Troy live but have heard good things so I was game.

My associate and I, Mark Frantik, got in a half an hour before The Fall of Troy's set began and met up with the lovely Lindsey(Don't know how to spell her name, sorry)and she led us to the photo pit 10 minutes before the set. We lined up against the first barriers before the pit and no later than a few minutes from then, The Fall of Troy hit the stage.

Not wasting anytime, they go into the first song and start ripping it up. The second song comes around and it is "Cut down the trees and name the streets after them," and The Fall of Troy went at it with reckless abandon. I was really surprised at the energy they put out onstage, they were really giving it a go! The vocals needed a boost though and Thomas could've turned it down a bit as well since his vocals started to sound a little bit out of breath. I also think that he sounds way better when singing rather than screaming but hey, the man wants to scream so let him! I can understand though since he is shredding his ass off on the guitar and then doing double duty as the bands vocalist. Hell, most people can't even pull one instrument off, talk about two! To find three piece bands with as much energy and prowess as these guys is as hard as finding rainbows after a rainy day. I was really surprised at how good the rhythm section held their own. They kept it tight in the pocket. Even more surprising to me was Thomas' guitar playing. That dude has a nice style, although a little messy at times with all the jumpin' around and all, but it was very much his own and he did not stop shredding! It was freakin' cool. The Fall of Troy was up there for a good 30 to 45 minutes and needless to say, they rocked it.

The Clutch banner went up and the crowd has now swelled to almost full. Clutch fans quickly took a spot closer to the stage and then off went the lights. Lead singer, Neil Fallon emerges from the dark and greets the crowd with a "How are you all doing?" The first song starts and it was imminent, Southern rock Clutch came out to play for us tonight. No, not the Punk Clutch, not the Metal Clutch, Southern Rock Clutch. I felt the need to light a freakin' joint as the second song went by, but for some reason, they drained the crowd of energy and I felt the same. It felt like I should sit down and get high to it or something cause it was not working for me while standing up, they made me feel more tired than I really was. By the fourth song, I walked out for some air and decided to miss the rest. I was snoozing to tell you the truth, maybe I was just tired. Who knows.

After brief conversations with people,weird and normal, we headed back inside to refresh and get a nice spot for the headliner, Coheed and Cambria. Okay, I'm not the biggest fan of singing in the key that CAC sing in but since I play music, I know that people have different talents. CAC's music has never really hit a chord with me and I know that they are good for the music they play but I was nonetheless eager to hear how they sound live.

The curtains draw open and Coheed is planted on the stage amidst all the smoke and background with two background vocalists, which really surprised me since most bands don't use background vocalists for live shows. The first chords hit and the crowd went wild! I did not know that there was this many CAC fans and they were enjoying themselves. By the third song, I realized that CAC is actually pretty good. Still not down with the singing but there is nothing bad I can say about their performance nor their sound. The sound was actually very tight and the performance was right on without too much jumping and spazzing out but instead, they looked like seasoned performers. I don't know any of their songs but from what I was hearing, they don't mess around and they were very pro. The singer, Claudio, had his patented fro intact and played the guitar like a big boy as was the lead guitars, he also rocked. The drums were good and the bass player did his job. Overall, Coheed and Cambria were excellent and their fans are not deaf.

By: Gian Erguiza