REVIEW: Thrice Bring 27 Years of Intensity to Empire Live
06/18 @ Empire Live, Albany
“[Thrice is] one of the rare bands from that early 2000s post-hardcore scene that managed to evolve without radically shifting away from their core sound…”
On Thursday, June 18, Thrice took the stage at Empire Live with support from Held. and Hey Mercedes. The following is a stream of consciousness retelling of the evening’s events.
It happened again. I missed the freaking openers. I hate when that happens but this time it really wasn’t my fault. See, here’s what happened.
It’s about 5:00 pm and I’m finishing up work for the day. I come downstairs to check in on the wife and the dude. When I get down there, the wife is looking ridden hard and put away wet. Normal occurrence when you’re chasing around a toddler, but when I ask her how she’s doing she tells me, ‘Honey, I no feel so good!’.
Turns out, she accidentally ate some weed chocolate while she was cleaning out the cupboards in the kitchen and she is as high as a kite. Now, instead of showering and getting ready to go meet up with the boys for a preshow dinner, I gotta take over on child care duty until either a) she comes down to Planet Earth or b) the dude goes down to sleep.
It’s 8:55pm when I walk in the venue. I missed all of Held. and I only catch the last two songs of Hey Mercedes; “Que Shiraz” and “Our Weekend Starts on Wednesday”, both from their seminal 2001 album Everynight Fireworks. I had a serious moment where that record, as well as 2004’s Loses Control were in heavy rotation, but since then it’s mostly just been the occasional trip down memory lane. Glad I at least got to catch those two songs though. A nice little primer for the main attraction.
I meet up with the boys and everyone has lots of questions about how on earth my wife managed to accidentally get so high. Fair questions, all of them.
Thrice takes the stage at 9:15 pm and kicks things off with “Hurricane” from their 2016 album To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere (excellent album title).
At this point, what is there really to say about Thrice? They’re just short of 30 years in at this point, have been active during four different decades (‘90s, ‘00s, ‘10s, ‘20s) and have never once gotten stale. They’re one of the rare bands from that early 2000s post-hardcore scene that managed to evolve without radically shifting away from their core sound. Every record is different while remaining an undeniably “Thrice” record.
The only other bands from that scene or adjacent that I hold in the same regard are Bright Eyes and Every Time I Die (RIP). Those three stand above the rest as artists who were able to evolve and remain interesting and in many ways even improve upon their earlier recordings.
The set spans the course of their entire discography and even now in their mid-40s they’re as tight as they’ve ever been live. Here are some of the highlights and anecdotes from their set in no particular order:
This band looks great. I mean, seriously. They’re in their mid-40s and the majority of them have kids but there isn’t a dad bod in sight. I really need to get my fucking shit together. Dustin’s long, luscious locks are a new look and I’m firmly a fan.
This light show they have going on is A+ stuff. Everything is synced up perfectly and I’ve got a spot next to the board and watching this engineer work is its own kind of special show. Big ups!
“Gnash” fucks. The song from their most recent record, 2025’s Horizons/West, is the heaviest of the entire set. Here these fucking guys are, a cool 27 years on from their debut record, just still putting out absolute heat.
Dustin’s screaming is back. The last couple times I saw them in 2018 and 2022 Dustin kind of ditched the screams. I mean, I get it. That shit ravages the old voice box. This time around on songs like “Paper Tigers,” “Silhouette,” and “The Earth Will Shake” the scream is back in full force and it adds an extra layer of intensity to the performance.
That’s it. Like I said, at this point, what new superlatives and accolades can you pour on to Thrice’s career? But, I’ve also got a little extra time, so as an extra treat, you get to read about a decades-long debate that we’ve been having about Thrice and Thursday. Seeing as they’ve both played the Capital Region in the past year, now seems like as good a time as any to speak on it.
…
Thursday and Thrice have always been inextricably linked. While they certainly exist within the same “sport”, they’re not really occupying the same ballpark if you know what I mean. And yet, it's hard to extricate one from the other.
After releasing debut records that were met with somewhat muted responses (Thursday’s Waiting and Thrice’s Identity Crisis), both were snapped up by influential independent labels — Thursday signed to Victory Records (yes, horrendous business practices, but they also released A Day To Remember’s Homesick so…) and Thrice signed to the Hopeless Records imprint Sub City.
Upon signing with these influential independent labels, both bands released seminal sophomore albums that include songs that remain mainstays in their live sets 25 years later. Thursday released Full Collapse in April 2001 with “Understanding in a Car Crash” remaining a live staple to this day. Thrice released The Illusion of Safety in February 2002 with “Deadbolt” fulfilling that same purpose..
Following the release of their respective sophomore albums, both bands signed a major label deal with Island Records and released beloved projects in 2003 — Thursday’s War All the Time and Thrice’s The Artist in the Ambulance.
Finally, and perhaps most crucially, they’re both post-hardcore bands that start with “Th-”. We’re very simple creatures after all.
Both bands followed the exact same career trajectory early on and as a result we’ve been split into factions like Team Edward and Team Jacob. So who’s right? Which band is better?
Here is the definitive top 10 list of Thrice and Thursday albums:
Thursday - Full Collapse (2001)
Thrice - Vheissu (2005)
Thrice - The Artist in the Ambulance (2003)
Thrice - The Illusion of Safety (2002)
Thursday - War All the Time (2003)
Thrice - The Alchemy Index (2007)
Thrice - To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere (2016)
Thursday - Waiting (2000)
Thrice - Horizons/West (2025)
Thursday - A City By the Light Divided (2006)
So what does this tell us? Does Team Thrice or Team Thursday win?
They both do.
Thursday released the single best album from either band. Thrice has had a longer and more consistent career.
I guess it depends on what you value.
Ha! Let the debate continue to rage on!