Review: Thrice at Badlands Bar

Thrice at Badlands Bar
w/ Shangrila
Thursday, September 7, 2023

Californian progressive post-hardcore champions Thrice made their way back to Australia last week celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their third album, The Artist in the Ambulance.

For those who managed to get tickets to the final Perth show, which was the second of two sold out nights at Badlands Bar, there was a nervous sense of anticipation in the air. For many fans, this wasn’t just a great Thrice record, but the formative album of the early 2000s progressive hardcore and punk rock scenes, and expectations were high. With pre-COVID tours focusing on the latter albums where the band had developed a clear new sound, would this be the show their fans had wanted forever? Or had the nostalgia levels been dialled up to eleven, setting them up for disappointment?

The night started with local melodic alt rockers Shangrila as the only support band, and they did not disappoint. Shangrila started slowly, but after a few songs they ditched the picnic blanket, the drummer broke out of mid tempo and the band delivered some big, big choruses. Finishing their set strongly, Shangrila revealed themselves to the growing audience as a good up and coming band with a bright future.

Now it was time for the main event. With the venue packed in with familiar faces from across the music scene and times now past, there was immense anticipation as the mics were checked and guitars tuned.

“They are sick, they are poor!!" Seven sold out shows in eight days, with extras added to meet the huge demand, has not stopped Thrice lead singer Dustin Kensrue belting out the notes. This man has at least four lungs, plus a few more from guitarist Teppei Teranishi and bassist Eddie Breckenridge, creating intricate vocal layering equal to that of the recordings.

Once your ears lost the higher frequencies, which were knocked out by the opening songs, the sound was amazing. Fans sang along to every word from Artist in the Ambulance as Thrice belted out song after song in consecutive order. With the crowd packed in close, you had to contend with ‘ol’ sauced up mate on your right shoulder singing like nobody’s business’ – but fortunately the band were loud enough to drown them out!

Thrice are all seasoned musicians, and led by drummer Riley Breckenridge, they played with next level intensity. Stare at the Sun and Hoods on Peregrine were standouts, but you could hardly find fault in the set, with a flawless performance demonstrating even more dynamism than the recordings themselves.

Thrice had hardly said two words and by the time they got to song ten, the album’s title track, the crowd was starting to push the PA!

With the album done and only 40 minutes down, Thrice dove straight into the second half of the show and seemed to only grow in energy. They continued with songs from earlier albums of a similar vein, which were mixed in with plenty from the newer phase, where the band made a marked change in their sound with their eighth studio album Major/Minor. Classics including Deadbolt got the crowd re-engaged after some of the moody, eclectic stuff fewer people knew.

After performing for an hour and a half non-stop, they were done. Psych! Within twenty seconds it was encore time, where Thrice belted out another few popular songs from the later albums. By this point it had become clear, they were getting more powerful the more they played. Channelling some kind of external force, they could have played another entire set, easily!

What a show! With the perfect mix of old and new songs, Thrice showed that despite having been around forever, there’s no sign of them slowing down anytime soon.

SHANE ELLIS