That was the view from the general admission, standing-room astroturf field at Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield, where Coheed and Cambria took the stage for what they claimed was their largest audience as a headliner. These guys put on an incredible show, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to be listening to copious amounts of their music over the holiday weekend.
For a band that’s had an album reach the top 10 (Good Apollo I’m Burning sold a million copies), they rock in relative obscurity. People have drawn comparisons to any number of progressive rock bands, but the truth is Coheed and Cambria sound like, well, Coheed and Cambria. It’s not worth trying to label what they do because it defies any specific genre. And that’s a good thing; it should make them more popular as listeners who enjoy metal, punk, straight-up rock, progressive rock, and (I’ll add) space opera should find something accessible in their catalog.
All five of their releases are based on a science fiction storyline involving Coheed and Cambria (yes, the band is named after characters in a space opera, and yes, Cambria is Coheed’s wife). But you don’t need to know or understand the backstory to appreciate the music and lyrics of any of their work, any more than you’d need to have authored a scholarly work on Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead and objectivism to appreciate the complexity between the staff lines in Rush’s 2112. Yes, the albums tell a story, but the music stands on its own right. Anyone claiming to be spooked by impenetrable lyrics can explain what “( : : )” means in Yes’ Awaken, because for three decades I haven’t been able to figure it out but still adore the song and the rest of Going For The One.
For almost two hours, they rocked out, they had huge energy, played off the crowd, and generally made me think this was one of the best shows I’ve been to in years. No pyrotechnics, no effects, no extreme volume, just quality musicianship across the board. Chris Pennie on drums was spectacular (I can’t imagine hammering the double bass drum pedals the way he did in temperatures that topped 90 degrees, even after sundown). Claudio Sanchez on guitar didn’t stop jumping around between song stanzas.
Only downside: a few crowd surfers learned that astroturf burns when you get get dropped on it from shoulder height.
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