Coheed And Cambria & Dinosaur Pile-Up at Koko, London - live review

Sci-fi prog stars rev up their time machine

Art for Coheed And Cambria & Dinosaur Pile-Up live at Koko, London

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DINOSAUR PILE-UP [7] sure make a racket. Theirred-raw garage rock, influenced by Nirvana, Melvins and the scrappy sensibilities of Foo Fighters’ self-titled debut, is hardly progressive stuff, yet it’s a reminder of just how thrilling simple, balls-to-the-the wall riffery can be. It’s stupidly hot outside, but as far as COHEED AND CAMBRIA [8] fans are concerned, the opportunity to see the band play their 2005 album, Good Apollo, ISOFTWAREmark” gingersoftwareuiphraseguid=“347ad4cf-f56c-4f2b-ba8b-97ac8f7bb3de” id=“9f5d1e10-3df5-4cd8-831b-b8f472c046c8”>SOFTWAREmark” gingersoftwareuiphraseguid=“e3f75b5d-aac1-4df5-8a23-4f9ec95f9971” id=“1ec8213f-64bc-4a60-a0c5-905d3a7dbb3e”>’m Burning…, in full is one worth losing 10 pints of sweat over. Performing the album in order means that Coheed getWelcome Home, their best-loved song and traditional set-closer, out of the way early but even after that, the set never wilts. This feels like a truly special night. Some of these tracks, especially The Willing Well II and III, have barely been played in the last decade and it’s testament to the strength of the songwriting on Good Apollo… that a histrionic prog record, based on a sci-fi storyline, can still connect on such a mass level. Tonight is about reliving past glories, but Coheed will only ever have their heads in the future, making music that sounds conceptually and sonically ahead of its time more than a decade later.

Dannii Leivers

Danniii Leivers writes for Classic Rock, Metal Hammer, Prog, The Guardian, NME, Alternative Press, Rock Sound, The Line Of Best Fit and more. She loves the 90s, and is happy where the sea is bluest.