The Dear Hunter - 1st show of the tour last night

[mitchgx]

I saw The Dear Hunter last night on the opening show of their tour, and I think I have to now crown them The Most Underrated Band in America. Holy shit, what a show. I've seen them a couple times as an opener, and they were good, but seeing them in a headline situation was so much better...it gave them a chance to really stretch out and display some personality (turns out they're pretty funny guys, especially the scrawny guitar player). And, btw, they played for nearly 2 1/2 hours.

It was a great setlist, hitting many of my DH favorites, and the band was super tight, which was impressive given that it's their first show of the tour. I think the night benefitted from the energy that probably comes from the early part of the tour, too. My only nitpick is that Casey's vocals were occasionally quite pitchy, dawg. But when it happened, he'd find the pocket again and all would be fine. I think the biggest surprise for me was his guitar playing...typically it seems he leaves the lead breaks and melody bits to the other two guitarists, so I had no idea how good Casey was. There were a couple times that he branched out in the song and played extended solos, and my jaw just about dropped. Turns out the dude can shred.

Anybody that's even has a casual acquaintance with the band's music should try and see them if they come near your town. The songwriting of this band is on a level most other bands only wish they could approach, and last night their live performance was every bit the match for the material. If you can't tell, I enjoyed myself.

Here's a pretty good video that somebody shot last night...they were behind me, so you can see me a couple of times in the lower left corner. Fortunately the bald spot doesn't show up.

[Nicky Cupcakes]

Thanks for the report (and reminder about the tour). I may go check out the Philly show - seeing them for 15 bucks for 2.5 hours is pretty much a steal. My only live experience with them is TCS DVD - and I know they were pressed for time and didn't have much leeway within the songs.