Irvine-based rock band Thrice closed out their nationwide tour with a banger of a hometown show at the House of Blues Anaheim.
The show, the second of two, was supported by Downward and Modern Color, which warmed the crowd with post-hardcore angst and emo-shoegaze.
Thrice’s tour was in support of their 12th album, “Horizons/West,” a follow-up to 2021’s “Horizons/East,” also released via Los Angeles-based Epitaph Records. For a band like Thrice, formed in 1998 by drummer Riley Breckenridge, his bassist brother, Ed Breckenridge, and longtime friends vocalist-guitarist Dustin Kensrue and lead guitarist Teppei Teranishi, there were plenty of hits to make a hometown show truly feel like home.
To kick off the set, the group opened with the one-two punch from the new album, “Blackout” and “Gnash,” which also serve as the opening tracks to “Horizons/West.” Those opening numbers were a solid choice that set a darker ambiance, driven by saw-toothed breakdowns and a strobe-lit stage production that remained throughout the night.
While the crowd embraced the new songs, there was also a sense of nostalgia, with some sporting vintage Thrice tour t-shirts. Those callbacks were satisfied by some of the band’s throwback hits, such as “The Artist in the Ambulance,” which took fans back to their early-2000s era, and the title track from their first major-label album, which came after a bidding war landed them on Island Records. Some other notable songs from that album, performed during the show, included “Paper Tigers” and “Stare At The Sun,” which naturally inspired fans to mosh and crowd surf.
It also wouldn’t be a Thrice show without some of the moodier feels led by tracks from “To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere” sprinkled throughout the setlist. Songs like “Hurricane,” “Black Honey,” and “Beyond the Pines” had the House of Blues Anaheim crowd singing choruses like a choir. Some of the set included songs from Thrice’s other 2000s albums, including “The Earth Will Shake” and “Of Dust and Nations” from “Vheissu” and “In Exile” from “Beggars,” which continued to feed the night’s nostalgia.
Absent from the setlist, which was a whopping 21 songs, were music from 2007’s “The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II: Fire & Water” and 2008’s “The Alchemy Index Vols. II & IV: Air & Earth.” Granted, the show was already packed with a long list of songs, but it would’ve been a nice callback to hear some of the music from either of those albums, which are a significant part of Thrice’s history.
There was some experimentation in those records, including in “Fire,” where the band evolved its approach to post-hardcore, in “Water,” which embraced an electronic nature, and in “Earth,” which embraced folk and Americana. Those albums offer insight into the past that has given us the present-day Thrice, which is so beloved, but maybe next time, fans will get to hear their favorites from those records.
Overall, the setlist struck a balance between decades of reminiscence and the band’s most current musical endeavors, with “Horizons/East” and “Horizons/West” at its center. Both albums were meant to be a two-part release, with the latest initially set to be released in 2022. However, the band was also approaching the 20th anniversary of “The Artist in the Ambulance” in 2023 and had set out to re-record the album, sparking a tour where they played it in full at sold-out shows across the U.S. and Europe.
Thrice’s “Horizons/West” encompasses a little bit of every era of the band to date and feels somewhat murkier in its themes, led by solid angst, with songs such as “Crooked Shadows.” They also performed “The Dark Glow,” which evokes the long-standing musical relationship between acoustic guitar strokes and heavy metal chords, with a crushing emotional delivery.
There is a level of sophistication that has grown throughout the band’s career. Poetry is one way to describe some of the tracks on “Horizons/West,” particularly the song “Albatross.” Kensrue’s crooning style in the song illustrates how much his voice has matured over the last 25 years, making him one of the most distinctive voices in alternative rock.
It’s hard to fathom what it would have been like if Thrice had broken up for good 13 years ago. The band had initially gone on an indefinite hiatus in 2012, and played a few farewell shows at The Observatory in Santa Ana. The break lasted nearly five years before the group reunited in 2016, releasing “To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere” and “Palms” in 2018.
In 2022, Thrice performed at House of Blues Anaheim to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their sophomore album “Illusions of Safety” with their fans. Thrice drummer Riley Breckenridge told the Orange County Register in an interview at the time that the album helped legitimize them and that they felt their band’s trajectory was getting “real” after its release and reception.
For the group’s encore and last song of the night, Thrice performed the fan favorite “Deadbolt” from “The Illusion of Safety,” a song that seamlessly blends pop-punk hooks with post-hardcore technical guitar riffs. The song set forth the biggest mosh pit of the night and served as the perfect celebratory way to end the tour in their hometown. With over a quarter of a century of hits under their belt, the group’s mixed bag of songs, from classics to new releases, has arguably proven that their best work may not be what’s behind them but also what’s ahead.