COIN // The Rio

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The Rio Theatre was absolutely rocked on November 9th by COIN. With the absence of the opening act, Valley, who were unable to get across the border, Chase Lawrence (lead vocals/synths), Ryan Winnen (drums), Joe Memmel (lead guitar/backing vocals), and Matt Martin (bass) came out to a somewhat cool crowd, murmuring with excitement.
The first live sounds of the night came from Memmel‘s Fender Mustang for their song Chapstick, a single they released in early October. The tone of his opening riff cut like a knife through the anticipation of what the night had in store. There were no more questions at this point; we were in for a show.
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As the night went on, it became more and more apparent why COIN has experienced the success they have; not only were they all incredible musicians, but they each had a distinct knack for showmanship. Whether it was Lawrence jumping on top of his keyboard mid solo or Memmel becoming a human extension of his guitar and falling to his knees at the strum of a chord, there was always something going on up there that caught your eye. The passion they have for their music was evident and contagious.
I was able to get my hands on their setlist after the show, and this was the order of the songs they played.
Chapstick
Into My Arms
I Want It All
Simple Romance
IDWD
Growing Pains
Nobody’s Baby
Valentine
Cemetry
Babe Ruth
Let It All Out
Malibu 1992
You Are The Traffic
Youuu
Crash My Car
Fingers Crossed
Encore:
Sagittarius Superstar
Talk Too Much
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Before playing You Are The Traffic, the only song they performed from their most recent album, Rainbow Mixtape, Lawrence mentioned that they wrote 26 new songs in the last year. Which, under normal circumstances, would be basically impossible for a band trying to balance a touring schedule. The feat becomes even more impressive when you consider the quality of the 26 songs that they produced. But, as we all know, time can seem endless during a lockdown; something Lawrence credited as the main reason they were able to write so much.
I was slightly disappointed they didn’t play more of their new songs from their recent albums Rainbow Mixtape and Green Blue + Indigo Violet; the night was primarily focused on their album Dreamland, which they didn’t get a chance to tour in 2020 due to COVID-19. I can’t blame them; it’s a strange position for a band to release an album, then get halted from touring due to a global pandemic, sending them into a writing frenzy that resulted in two new albums in one year. The good news, there is a lot more new music that they will be performing soon.
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The night ended off with their most popular song to date, Talk Too Much. Even after seventeen songs, they were able to muster up a powerful performance that had the entire building singing along with them. Lawrence ended the night by simply saying, “see you next time,” with confident assurance in his tone that was well deserved after that performance. He knew, as well as everyone else in that crowd, that we were going to be seeing him again.
Review: Conaire Kehoe
Photos: Michaela De Ciantis-Wong

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