Thrice•Holy Fawn•June 13, 2023•The Union Events Center
Reviewed and Photographed by Nate Bonney
Thrice played at the Union Event Center in Salt Lake City Tuesday, June 13th. They brought along with them Holy Fawn as the opening set. I didn’t really know much about the opening band except that they guest appeared on Thrice’s re-recorded album “The Artist in the Ambulance.” in the song “Paper Tigers” which the re-recording has a much fuller sound. It’s a good one to compare side by side and notice the small differences.
I showed up late to the Holy Fawns set so I only caught the last couple of songs. And I wasn’t able to get any images from their set. Nonetheless, they had quite the fan base show up and had a good stage presence.
Holy Fawn was formed back in 2015 and is from close by Phoenix AZ. They’re comparable to Deafhaeven and Envy and they have influences from Band of Horses, Manchester Orchestra, SlowDive, and Deftones.
If you aren’t familiar with Holy Fawn, like I was, it is good to give them a listen. Their music has a very unique sound. They have an ethereal sound mixed with what you expect from hard rock. The songs I saw them play were “Yawning,” from their 2018 album “Death Spells,” then “Glóandi,” from their first album in 2015. And the last song of their set was “Seer,” again from their 2018 album.
If you haven’t been to The Union, it’s always a nice medium size venue to enjoy a concert. It still has plenty of room to not feel cramped but still has an intimate atmosphere to enjoy your favorite movie. Just get there early to get a good parking spot.
Thrice
Now on to Thrice’s set. They came out swinging with “Cold Cash and the Colder Hearts.” It has been since 20 years since they came out with “The Artist in the Ambulance,” and they played it in its entirety plus hits from their other albums.
They continued with “Under a Killing Moon,” on the re-recorded track they have Sam Carter. And then “All that’s Left.” Amazing songs and they crushed it with the lighting on them and the crowd was very pleased. They moved through their set at a good pace. I wish that there was a little more audience to band engagement. It always seems to have more of that intimate feeling when groups are able to interact a bit more with the audience and their fans. Then when I saw how many songs they were planning on playing then it made sense on their movement.
If you have never been to one of their shows you can imagine the energy that they create. This is my second time seeing them and there is always an enthused audience to see them and a majority of their work is high energy. I wouldn’t say intense because they aren’t all about loud music. If you listen to the lyrics and look them up they have a lot of meaning. So not only music-driven, lead guitarist and vocalist Dustin Kensrue knows how to write emotionally driven songs.
When They played “Stare at the Sun,’ it toned it down just a bit but still kept the energy. The lighting went along perfectly with the music. They use a decent amount of fog during their show and the lighting was spot on. On the re-recorded album, this track has another collaborator. Andy Hull of Manchester Orchestra. I highly recommend checking them out. That’s why this is one of my favorite tracks on the album.
They Played “Hoods on Peregrine.” On the album, it has Be Well its them. A nice heavy song that gets a great reaction from the crowd. And when I mean a great reaction I mean everyone getting into it and fans crowd-surfing. You don’t see that too often anymore and when I do I can always tell that they have a great fan base that turns out for support.
After they played their “The Artist in the Ambulance” album in its entirety they moved on to play a bunch of their hits from their other albums. It was all a variety jumping back all the way to their second album which had more of a heavy punk sound. So if you are old-school Thrice fans this was the perfect show to attend. “The Artist in the Ambulance” is their third album so it is always nice to revisit a classic album that everyone has heard for years.
They Finished with “The Earth Will Shake” from their album Vheissu. It was so good! It’s one of those songs that starts off soft and then crescendo into a strong powerful song. After that a lot of screaming and applause from the audience.
Obviously, they left the stage and waited a few minutes, came back out, and had an encore to play. They Played a Beatles cover of “I want you (She’s So Heavy).” They did an amazing job on it. Then their last song for the show was “The Long Defeat,” from their 2016 album “To Be Everywhere Is to be Nowhere.” By this time the whole audience was singing along.
From start to finish Thrice can put on a very impactful show and keep the moment that I think a lot of groups would have a hard time keeping up. I would highly recommend seeing them next time they come into town. You won’t be disappointed.
Setlist
The Artist in the Ambulance
1. Cold Cash and Colder Hearts
2. Under a Killing Moon
3. All That’s Left
4. Silhouette
5. Stare at the Sun
6. Paper Tigers
7. Hoods on Peregrine
8. The Melting Point of Wax
9. Blood Clots and Black Holes
10. The Artist in the Ambulance
11. The Abolition of Men
12. Don’t Tell and We Won’t ask
13. Mention Isn’t Meaning
14. Summer Set Fire to the Rain
15. Black Honey
16. Where Idols Once Stood
17. Deadbolt
18. The Weight
19. Yellow Belly
20. The Earth Will Shake
Encore
21. I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
22. The Log Defeat