Prog rockers Coheed and Cambria and Mastodon take over Montage Mountain in Scranton on May 31
From a press release:
Today, prog rock titans Coheed and Cambria and Mastodon announced The Infinite Arc Tour, traveling across the United States with special guests Periphery in 2025.
While Coheed is gearing up for the release of their brand new album “The Father of Make Believe” on March 14, Mastodon has been celebrating the 15th anniversary of “Crack the Skye” with a deluxe box set reissue, marking 20 years of “Leviathan” with special full-album performances, and releasing a new track, “Floods of Triton.”
Produced by Live Nation and FPC Live, their 20-city run kicks off on May 10 at Salem Civic Center in Salem, Virginia, making stops in Raleigh, Charleston, Lexington, Syracuse, and more before wrapping up in Waukee, Iowa at Vibrant Music Hall on June 8, playing “some markets that we rarely or never play, along with a few that we’ve been to more recently,” Coheed noted. It comes to The Pavilion at Montage Mountain (1000 Montage Mountain Rd., Scranton) on Saturday, May 31 at 7 p.m.
An artist ticket pre-sale starts Wednesday, Dec. 11 at 10 a.m.; pre-sale registration is now open. Tickets go on sale to the general public this Friday, Dec. 13 at 10 a.m. via livenation.com.
For the last 20 years, Coheed and Cambria has continuously broken the mold of what a rock band can be, forging their own path and building a universe around their music unlike any other. Whether it is in the way their genre-spanning approach to songwriting has allowed them to bridge worlds without being contained to one, or the multifaceted story arc of their albums and comic book series that mark the longest-running concept story in music, the group has consistently shaped new standards, never conforming, allowing them to grip listeners and press around the globe with their visionary compositions and conceptual mastery.
10 albums in, something changed for Coheed and Cambria. As singer, guitarist, and master storyteller Claudio Sanchez began plotting out the sci-fi-inspired New York prog legends’ latest, “Vaxis Act III: The Father of Make Believe,” he found himself writing more directly about his life and, especially, his career. Amid the wailing guitars, cracking drums, and Sanchez’ powerful voice – centering listeners throughout moments placid and pinwheeling – Coheed devotees will still find plenty of character work and references to the lore. But for those who are new here, there is no homework required to feel the host’s hopes, fears, battles, and triumphs. Of course, it’s easy to get drawn in anyway.
Coheed – which includes Travis Stever (lead guitar), Josh Eppard (drums), and Zach Cooper (bass) – emerged from Nyack, New York in the early 2000s, wedged between an emo renaissance and a metal revival. While their peers broke hearts and banged heads, they crafted “Game of Thrones”-level fantasies around their Amory Wars storyline, which unfurls across 78 planets known as Heaven’s Fence. Eight of the band’s albums thus far (plus a small galaxy of comics and novels) live in this space, and so does “The Father of Make Believe.” It’s just that the sky is cracking, revealing the hand behind the scene. In the past, Sanchez said, “I’ve kept the struggles of my life private. When I can’t express myself in words, I express in worlds.” And yet, as he assumes the role of main character, Coheed is yet again finding new ways to bring audiences into their universe.
“With every album, I try to ‘outdo’ the one before, or at least make something that sounds different and evolved in some way. I found [“Vaxis Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind”] to be such a quintessential record for the band, so it was extremely difficult for me to envision a follow-up. I think that initial struggle added to the feeling of having a kind of musical midlife crisis… this constant internal battle of searching for creative release and growth… the being unsure if it’s the right path. This one took more effort in the beginning but, in the end, I think the digging was worth it for the subsequent surge.”
Grammy Award-winning metal group Mastodon has steadily evolved into one of the most influential, inimitable, and iconic rock bands of the modern era. Since emerging in 2000, the Atlanta, Georgia quartet has defied both sonic and thematic boundaries with an uncategorizable, undeniable, and uncompromising vision unlike anything else in music.
This vision manifested over the course of canonical albums such as “Leviathan,” which landed on Rolling Stone’s coveted “100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time” list. Following the seminal “Crack The Skye” (named one of the best albums of 2009 by Time), they earned three consecutive Top 10 debuts on the Billboard Top 200 with “The Hunter” (2011), “Once More ‘Round the Sun” (2014), and “Emperor of Sand” (2017). Out of six career nominations, they received a Grammy in the category of Best Metal Performance for “Sultan’s Curse.”
They are the rare creative force whose music can be felt everywhere from “Game of Thrones,” Adult Swim, The History Channel, and DC Comics films to Coachella and Bonnaroo. They notably supported the Hirschberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research with a rendition of “Stairway to Heaven” in honor of late manager Nick John.
In 2021, they reached another critical high watermark via their ninth full-length, “Hushed and Grim.” Featuring the Grammy-nominated “Pushing the Tides,” it marked the band’s third straight No. 1 bow on the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart. It concluded the year on over a dozen year-end lists, with Rolling Stone raving, “We get everything from some of the band’s hookiest rockers to date to some of their most awe-inspiring epics.”
In 2024, they embarked on a massive arena tour with Lamb of God, celebrating the 20th anniversary of “Leviathan,” with the two bands subsequently teaming up for the collaborative single “Floods of Triton,” which was met with widespread critical acclaim from Rolling Stone, Forbes, Pitchfork, Revolver, and beyond. Evolving as they usher rock into new realms, they forever remain the same unpredictable trailblazing beast – Mastodon.
