Despite hailing from the UK, Progressive Metal veterans Threshold do not grace these shores very often. When they do, though, it is always a true Prog treat for those in attendance. Here is what happened this Saturday night when their Through Time Tour reached The Dome in North London.
Threshold – Grace And Fire
The Dome, Tufnell Park – 30 November 2024
Words And Photography: Bogdan Bele
This Saturday night in London is, by all intents and purposes, unmissable for any prog fan in the Capital and beyond. The well-respected band is playing the only British date of its Through Time Tour 2024 at The Dome.
This is a retrospective show, one during which the band promises to play at least one track from each one of their albums, 12 of them to date. That means that whatever Threshold period you prefer, there is bound to be something you will love there.
The Dome is not full tonight, but it is a good-sized crowd. Looking around, you can see t-shirts from Threshold’s previous tours and albums, which is even more proof of fan loyalty. 
Another interesting fact is that, despite vocalist Glynn Morgan being sidelined for a while by a throat condition, the band have decided to carry on with the tour. How did they do that? By bringing in Alessio Garavello of A New Tomorrow to help them out until Glynn recovers.
Throughout the evening, Garavello proves to be a more than capable stand-in. His singing style is, at times, quite different from Morgan’s, but he does an excellent job. And this while doing tracks originally sung on the albums by three different vocalists.
The band gets on stage at 9 PM on the dot, and they instantly show that they mean business with the crushing riff of the track Slipstream, a song from 2007’s Dead Reckoning. Any worries about Alessio’s ability to pull this off are completely gone after the second track, Devoted, a track from (the recently remixed and remastered) Psychdelicatessen.
The evening takes us back to 1999 and Virtual Isolation, and then Freaks, from 2001’s Clone. The whole band looks like they are having a great time playing for what is a very receptive audience.
After a few riffier tracks, we are treated to the evening’s first slower number, The Mystery Show, featuring some great soloing from guitarist and founder Karl Groom. Alessio Garavello truly makes this one his own vocally.
It’s followed by another (partly) slower piece, Falling Away, from 2002’s Critical Mass, an epic track driven by the groovy rhythm section of drummer Johanne James and bassist Steve Anderson. Great stuff, with the crowd joining in for the chorus.
This is what has always been one of Threshold’s biggest assets: the ability to write technical songs that are catchy to the point of becoming earworms.
The show keeps jumping “through time”, going to the excellent Mother Earth, a ’93 track that Alessio mentions the band have not played live for 23 years. They seem to remember it quite well.
However, it is Richard West’s beautiful keyboard intro to The Man Who Saw Through Time that shows how popular 2017’s excellent Legends Of The Shires is among the band’s fans (in fact, the concept album even has a more recent sequel from West’s solo project Oblivion Protocol). 
One of Threshold’s heaviest riffs, Ashes, sounds amazing in The Dome and we only get to the most recent record (and one of my personal favourites), 2022’s Dividing Lines, toward the end of the evening.
It is incredible to realise how many great tracks this band has in its extensive catalogue and how hard it must be to choose this setlist. It is most certainly a very representative one for the band, but there are so many other numbers that could have easily been added to it.
Saying good night could only happen with Mission Profile, its powerful lyrics are so appropriate for the times we are living in, even 20 years after its release. 
However, the evening could not end without another encounter with The Legends Of The Shires. The encore is a double serving from the record – Snowblind and Small Dark Lines. The latter is sung by pretty much everyone in the room, with the band giving back the same contagious passion. Epic.
This was the end of what was a night, which truly showed why Threshold are one of the great bands of the genre. If you can catch them live, do not hesitate.
Grace And Fire
Starting the night is Grace And Fire, the opener for this whole European Threshold trek. They play melodic Progressive Metal and do a great job of warming up the room for tonight’s headliners. 
Their set comprises six riffy songs, with keyboards playing an important role, and they waste no time getting everyone going with some great playing and vocalist André Saint’s energetic stage presence. They play tracks from Elysium, their debut. There is a connection here between them and the headliner, as the album was produced by Threshold’s Karl Groom.
Grace And Fire standouts for me were Chains Of Sanity and Pandemonium Will Rise Again, the latter with some great guitar work, as well as the set closer Eyes Of The Seer.
