An Evening of Renewal With Thrice
The post-hardcore vets delivered a sharp, career-spanning set for their long-awaited return to Vancouver.
By Laura Harvey
Photos by Laura Harvey
- Published on
Nov. 17, 2025
Vancouver, BC
Commodore Ballroom
Two decades into their career and fresh off releasing their twelfth album Horizons/West earlier this year, Thrice returned to Vancouver for the first time since 2016—an absence that made their sold-out Commodore Ballroom show feel like both a reunion and a recalibration. With a catalogue as sprawling as theirs, building a setlist could easily feel like a compromise. Instead, the band used their deep bench to craft a night that was dynamic, balanced, and surprisingly forward-leaning.
They opened with a one-two punch from the new record—“Blackout” and “Gnash”—letting serrated breakdowns crash against a strobe-heavy light design that immediately set a darker, more atmospheric tone. If there were any doubts about the Vancouver crowd embracing newer material, they evaporated instantly.
Still, nostalgia threaded the room the moment the band launched into fan favourite “The Artist in the Ambulance,” the first real dip into their early-2000s era. From there, momentum snowballed. The floor turned into a choir for To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere standouts “Hurricane” and “Black Honey,” while “Beyond the Pines” shifted the energy into moodier terrain without losing the room for a second.
Crowdsurfers poured over the barricade as if making up for nine years of missed chances, and the band matched that energy with a performance that felt sharper and more assured than ever. That was especially true during “Stare at the Sun,” which somehow landed with even more force and clarity than it did when it first arrived on The Artist in the Ambulance back in 2003.
The encore—anchored by the jagged jolt of 2002’s “Deadbolt”—leaned into long-time fan service, but the night never felt stuck in the past. If anything, Thrice made a strong case that their best work may not be behind them. With Horizons/West, they’re still writing new chapters rather than coasting on legacy, and Vancouver seemed more than ready to follow wherever they go next.
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