REVIEW: The Dear Hunter: Live at The Masquerade (Hell) - ATL
The band removes their audience from reality into a conceptual concert
It's rare to see an artist apologizing for making their recent albums, but Casey Crescenzo did just that on Friday night at The Masquerade. “You get into the band for symphonic rock, but then the band gives you two albums of space funk,” said The Dear Hunter's frontman and creative world builder, expressing concern that the band's new sound was alienating old fans. The Dear Hunter's discography over the last 20 years is deep with lore and concept albums, from their five-part "Acts" series to a collection of EPs, each inspired by a different color of the spectrum. Their early music was influenced by Crescenzo's post-hardcore past but leaned heavily into symphonic progressive rock. Over two decades, the band's sound has evolved into a unique brand of progressive space funk, and fans turned out in massive numbers to hear it, lining up well before doors opened. For fans of the latest collection of albums, Friday's The Road to Sunya tour stop in Atlanta delivered a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The setlist consisted entirely of tracks from their most recent two albums, Antimai and Sunya, re-ordered and interwoven to give new perspective to their stories.
The set opened with "Ring 1 (Tower)," the final track of Antimai. This album tells the story of a city consisting of eight concentric rings, with abject poverty in the outermost ring and the ruling elite safe in their tower at the center. Starting the performance with this song established a theme of tyranny and corruption in Antimai, paving the way for "The Wasteland," "Marauders," and "Bazaarateria” from Sunya. These songs follow the story of "The Scientist," who escapes the city and travels across dangerous lands on a quest to discover why the Indigo Child has not answered their prayers and returned to help the city's lowest classes. At this point, the band returned to Antimai, playing "Ring 7 (Industry)" and "Ring 6 (LoTown)," highlighting the forced labor and crime endured by underprivileged residents of the city's outer rings. Weaving these two albums together in this way reminds the listener that, while The Scientist has left the city, Antimai and its conditions still persist. The band continued with “The Glass Desert” trilogy, chronicling The Scientist's journey past "Giants," "Cliffs and Stormlands," and through "The Plains" on the road to Sunya. Meanwhile, the corruption in Antimai continued as the band led the audience through "Ring 5 (Middle Class)" and "Ring 4 (Patrol)," before arriving at "Ring 3 (Luxury)," the home of the city's self-indulgent ultra-wealthy.
When the band started to play the evening's title track, "Sunya," a bittersweet energy filled the room. Serving as both the destination of the hero's trek and the final track of the evening, the song delivered a grand finale. Within the song's story, The Scientist is disappointed to discover Sunya vacant. There is no Indigo Child, and the myth only exists to create a false sense of hope. The Scientist concludes that the Indigo Child is not a physical savior, but rather that the power to change the world exists within all of them. For fans who waited months or years to see The Dear Hunter, the journey was also coming to an end. As the band left the stage and the house lights came up, the audience was left to return to reality, carrying the weight of a masterful, conceptual night at The Masquerade.
Article and photos by Joe Chiarella. Please credit @joe.takes.pictures or @art.seen.atl if reposting on social media.
