Photos and Writing by Kenny Brown
Sci-Fi prog rock legends Coheed and Cambria stopped by Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre during their nationwide tour in support of their new release “Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind”. Coheed is well known for bringing along excellent supporting acts, so new artist Mothica and veterans Alkaline Trio fit the bill perfectly.
Mothica (McKenzie Ellis) opened up the night with a set of energetic rock and pop songs to get the crowd going. She frequently paused to interact personally with the audience, at one point describing where the name Mothica originated and distinguishing herself as “not the fictional creature Mothra from the Godzilla movies”.
Veteran punk rockers Alkaline Trio took the stage next, bringing a powerful set of songs spanning their nearly 25 year history.
Then the stage went dark as we were slowly transported away to another galaxy by the gentle keys of Prologue, the opening track to Coheed’s “Unheavenly Creatures” album, followed immediately by the crushing Dark Sentencer with the stellar stage set up now on full display. Coheed continued to rip through song after song only pausing intermittently to converse with the fans, including a crowd inclusive Happy Birthday sing-a-long to a friend who was celebrating their 60th at the concert, then dedicating the song Everything Evil as this was the song the friend considers to be “the greatest song ever written”. Sixteen songs later Coheed momentarily stepped off the stage, and of course the crowd began chanting “Coheed, Coheed, Coheed…” until the band returned to the stage for an encore of fan favorites The Suffering and Welcome Home.
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