REVIEW: Hotline TNT with Toner: Live at The Masquerade (Altar) - ATL
- Magali Rivera
- Oct 9
- 3 min read
The New York rockstars brought their A-game on their "Path of Totality" tour
NYC-based shoegaze pop band Hotline TNT brought their gorgeously fuzzy sound to Altar at The Masquerade this past Tuesday. This was my first time at the relatively new, 250-cap Altar stage, and it was precisely the way I hoped to christen the place. With jangly guitars and rich vocals, Hotline TNT’s return to Atlanta delivered for fans, both old and new.
The band, who formed in 2018, released their third full-length album, Raspberry Moon, in June of this year. It saw them expand on what they do best: sincere vocals that match up nicely with the lush power-pop hum they produce sonically. They are currently playing this record live on their “Path of Totality” tour, which is properly named, not only because of all the cities they are hitting, but in the sound they are slinging out in each of them.
Toner, the opener, really amped people up and had a good deal of their own fans screaming along and jumping to their alt-rock dealings. One audience member was so taken by them, he took to shouting out the words “pretty solid” in between songs, much to the amusement of the rest of the crowd and the band’s members. Then, Hotline TNT came out to keep the energy high and mighty.
Lead singer and guitarist Will Anderson’s live vocal performance immediately reminded me of Billy Corgan, with its perfect slight whine. The rest of the band accompanied him in creating an expansive and satisfying ruckus, complete with shimmering drums. Anderson called the crowd out for their lack of movement at one point, which resulted in their immediate moshing and dancing, putting whatever shyness they had aside. The audience was visibly delighted to be seeing the band perform in Atlanta once more, singing along to new hits like “Julia’s War”, “Candle”, and “Where U Been?”.
After playing classics and a number of songs from Raspberry Moon, the band motioned to leave the stage, threatening the end of their set. The crowd roared for them to play one more song to which they agreed before they could even make it through the doors to their green room. Anderson urged the crowd to move to the music and make the two extra songs they decided to play “worth it”. The band went into two quicker, harder songs that got the audience pumped up one last time.
Though the entirety of their set fell under the hour mark, they did not leave the crowd without a night to remember. Hotline TNT successfully transmits a sound reminiscent of 90s alt-rock with a newer tone and fresh melodies. And with that, they blew the cross off of The Masquerade’s Altar.
Thank you so much to Hotline TNT and their team for this opportunity! Their latest record, Raspberry Moon is out now via Third Man Records.
Article and photos by Magali Rivera. Please credit @magliriver or @art.seen.atl if reposting on social media.
