California rock band Thrice made a stop in Buffalo, New York at the Town Ballroom on October 12 with special guests Touché Amoré and Self Defense Family. The lineup also included Jim Ward, who played the first three dates of the tour in Texas. This Autumn 2021 tour is in support of Thrice’s eleventh studio album Horizons/East, which was released on September 17 via Epitaph Records.
The Town Ballroom in Buffalo was truly the perfect fit for this tour of three. Even though all three bands are different in sound and with their stage presence, I believe that these three bands were a perfect fit together.
At first, the crowd was small but it filled in throughout the night, especially for the headliner Thrice. During the night, fans chanted for the Buffalo Bills. Whether it is during the band’s set or during the set changes, you will almost always hear a chant for the Buffalo Bills during a Buffalo show.
Since shows and tours started coming back in June of 2021, I’ve seen a variety of bands perform live in a variety of genres. Self Defense Family, the constantly evolving rock band who opened up the show in Buffalo, New York, has to be one of the best sets I’ve seen since June. Their songs were instantly added to my “liked” songs and playlists on Spotify.
Self Defense Family are the brainchild of vocalist and songwriter Patrick Kindlon, who created the group as a loose collective of musicians living in and around Albany, New York. Most of the members have floated in and out of Self Defense Family since 2011. Even Kindlon takes a break sometimes because he is a writer, artist, and full-time member of the band Drug Church.
Not only was Kindlon very interactive with the crowd by telling jokes and stories, the band was very supportive of the other musicians on the tour. Patrick Kindlon to the time to give a shout out the other bands, Touché Amoré and Thrice, at least two or three times.
After Self Defense Family performed, the Los Angeles, California based post-hardcore band Touché Amoré took the stage. Touché Amoré has been one of my favorite bands to listen to since the release of their October 2020 album Lament. Though their 2016 album Stage Four is just as amazing, I was not properly introduced to the band until Lament was released.
Touché Amoré played a wonderful set where a handful of fans right at the barricade were screaming back the words.
This was my first time seeing Touché Amoré perform and I know it won’t be my last.
They played a variety of songs from their albums Lament and Stage Four including “Flowers and You,” “Lament,” and one of my favorites, “Limelight”.
This show was the first opportunity that Western New York fans had to experience music from Thrice’s newest album Horizons/East. Thrice’s set was filled with push pits, crowd surfers, and amazing lighting (including lighting to create some beautiful silhouettes). Overall, it was a wonderful show in support of their new album.
It was my second time seeing Thrice. My first time was before the COVID-19 pandemic started. Their performance in Buffalo was truly better than the first time I saw them, proving improvement and excitement that shows are back.
The ten track album, including the songs “Buried in the Sun,” “Scavengers,” and “Summer Set Fire to the Rain” which they played during their set, exemplifies art as a work of recognition — the human task of perceiving oneself amid details, disasters, and blessings as a relentlessly relational phenomenon among others. Without surrendering any of the energy and hard edge of their previous albums, they’ve given us a profoundly meditative work, which serves as a musical summons to everyday attentiveness.
Horizons/East conveys a palpable sense of danger, determination, and possibility.
After playing a handful of shows on the east coast, Thrice and their tourmates are making their way back to the west coast. If you’ve seen Thrice play before, you know you are in for an incredible live show. If I had the chance, I would 100% attend this tour again not only for Thrice and their new album, but for the openers Touché Amoré and Self Defense Family.
So, if you’re in Arizona, California, Utah, Washington, and other neighbouring states, plan a day to make it out to this tour. If you cannot make it out to a show, I recommend taking 45 minutes out of your day to listen to Horizons/East. View the complete list of Thrice’s upcoming tour dates here: https://thrice.net/tour/
