#157 - Posted by Matthew on 26 March 2009 at 00:25:19 EDT

I've spent the past two evenings viewing the DVDs from Coheed and Camria's Neverender boxed set, and they were amazing.

If you've never seen these guys live, this boxed set is probably the next best thing. Get a big screen TV, a Dolby sound system, and the only part of the concert experience you'll be missing are over-priced beer and crowd surfers.

Anyway, Neverender was an amazing series of concerts where Coheed played each of their albums front-to-back. Which, if you think about it, is a feat when you consider that there are a lot of world-class bands out there that can't play their entire catalog in a live setting. Coheed pulled it off, and pulled it off well. While the performances aren't without the occasional flaw, these guys on a ho-hum day are better than most bands do on their best day, and it shows in this boxed set.

There was a lot of added "texture" in these performances, with added keyboards parts here and there, which gave it a little "umph" over the studio versions of the albums. It was all good, but by far the best was the show for the album "Good Apollo Volume 1." It was executed near-flawlessly, and the added female backing vocalists and percussionist added a lot to this album, which was already a highly textured and challenging album both in sound and in concept (not unlike Pink Floyd at their peak).

I hope that Neverender is something Coheed does in the future, maybe every few years or so, so that I can these shows in person.