Dear Hunter and Coheed & Cambria in Asheville, NC, Live Review

The Dear Hunter and Coheed and Cambria leave their mark on the crowds in attendance at their Asheville Civic Center show in Asheville, NC.

The Dear Hunter
Coheed & Cambria
Asheville Civic Center
Asheville, NC – 8-21-10

They say the best way to deliver bad news is to sandwich it between two pieces of good news, so lets start by saying that the members of The Dear Hunter seemed to win over some new fans after their performance in Asheville, NC opening for Coheed & Cambria and Porcupine Tree. There were definitely a few people that went from a blank stare to a smile and were later seen sporting Dear Hunter shirts, which is great (and also surprising, given my next point). The bad news – while opening for Coheed is great exposure for Dear Hunter, their contribution to tonight’s show was less than I could’ve hoped from a band I love. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t point the fingers at any of TDH’s members for not bringing their A-game, but the circumstances just weren’t present to allow me to rave nonstop about what I witnessed tonight.

The real issue I have to complain about is the sound. One of the key points that help The Dear Hunter stand out among the pack is their intricate, lush, and well spread sound. To have six band members being funneled through a sound system designed to deliver a sound like Coheed’s to the masses, it just ended up a slightly jumbled mess. Imagine, if you will, blaring a system meant to fill a stadium with a full on sound assault but crammed into a rather modest theatre.

Gone were some of the little details that made each song the lovable works that I’ve come to know and expect; severely compromised were the powerful deliveries you’re accustomed to hearing founding member Casey Crescenzo deliver (Let it be noted that while the sound seemed far too big for what Dear Hunter sonically creates, it actually sounded spot-on for Coheed’s actual performance – more on that later). It appeared to be enough to interest and appeal to fresh ears (and boy will they be in for a treat when they hear the soundscape awaiting them on the actual discs), but for us fans already in the know – it was just not quite what I would’ve had hoped for out of a collection of top notch performers. As a side note, it’s typically expected that the opening bands don’t get the full light & stage setup, but they performed in such darkness that each member was basically silhouetted the whole set. While looks by no means affect sound, I feel a show where you can actually SEE the band will probably grab a couple more people’s attention. It’s not to be petty, but again – not what you’d hope to have come from a band you hold in high regard.

Want some bread to round that sandwich out? Passion! Passion is what the members of The Dear Hunter brought in their six song set. It’s quite likely the same level of energy and intensity we witnessed on stage would be delivered to a sold out crowd as it would to a crowd of only about 20. There was no “phoning it in” from any of the band, despite the lack of light or less than ideal sound situation. I think their stage presence, what could be seen of it, was the single driving factor to them impressing some newcomers to the band. Complaints of sound quality aside, the set was a rather interesting mix but it was also a very enjoyable selection. They opened with “In Cauda Venenum” and managed to still run the gambit of their sound in six selections, wrapping with “He Said He Had a Beautiful Story.” The highlight of the set for me, however, was the punch of “Mustard Gas.” I’m glad the guys are winning people over and are apparently not letting anything slow them down, though I hope for better circumstances the next time I see them live!

As an added bonus for any Dear Hunter fans, I got to speak with Casey for a few moments after their set, and got to discuss the Color Spectrum project and what we can loosely expect out of Act IV. Apparently, the Color Spectrum EP idea came about around the time of Act II’s creation when the band were discussing their future plans and where they could possibly head once the six Acts were all completed. After the lengthy recording & release schedule for Act III, Casey said the band just wanted to deviate a bit from the course and keep things fresh. Once they were without a label, and after seeing the amount of interest & success of their limited edition Lifetime Fanclub memberships, they decided their best course was to continually create & release music more frequently and on their own timetable. He said that the Color Spectrum project should be wrapped by December and that there will be a nationwide tour coming around March. For those awaiting info on the fourth Act in the series, he said to expect quite a different pace from the heavy/dark tones of Act III. The new Act should actually be a lot more light-hearted and, dare I say it, happy in nature when compared with its direct predecessor.

Before I jump back into the show review with Coheed, there was a third band sandwiched on this bill, Porcupine Tree, I’m not doing much of a review for them. I went in being unfamiliar with their music and their performance didn’t particularly cause me to go out and learn more afterwards. There were a fair number of people that seemed to follow the band and most of them went crazy on the heavier songs, but ultimately they kept losing the audience switching between their spacier jams and their heavier riffs – neither terribly impressive to me, sorry.

Coheed & Cambria, the headliner of the night, I can happily say delivered a show that sounded great (despite Claudio’s constant battle to hear his own guitar, it was a-ok to the audience), was visually appealing, and offered a setlist to please the entire fanbase. They took the stage to kick off the set with “In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3” and kept the rapid pace running along with “Ten Speed (of God’s Blood & Burial)” and “Here We Are Juggernaut”, just for starters! They actually rarely ever relented the pounding save for their performance of “Pearl of the Stars” during the main set and “Wake Up” as the first song of the encore. It was actually a very cool moment in seeing Claudio taking care of his fans as he walked out, by himself, from the encore break and run over to sign a person’s out-held comic before starting the song. I’m always pleased to see a public figure worry less about how cool they look and more about being good to the people that put them there!

During their aggressive set, the band played a nice mix of songs from all albums, with the No World for Tomorrow album being the most overlooked; they only played the title song to close the main set. The album that saw the most cuts was Good Apollo, clocking in with five songs. While they managed to keep everyone cheering the whole time, the songs that really brought everyone into an fury were “Everything Evil” (with the entire auditorium shouting along to “Claudio… dear Claudio-o-o…”), “Delirium Trigger” (which had the best surprise intro of all the songs, and oh how they yelled when the first true notes were strummed), and the expected, but loved “Welcome Home”, closing the night out. The oddball set addition that pleased me most was Good Apollo’s “The Willing Well I: Fuel for the Feeding End”. The visual aspect of the show wasn’t the most epic or dramatic of any setup I’ve seen, but was enjoyable; they had a huge white cloth draped behind the stage where they cycled through images, live shot of the stage, and various video feeds. The focus was definitely more on the music and less on the visuals or theatrics this outing.

Two amusing moments of note, even if unintentionally so, came during “Wake Up”. The first being the number of people holding up their lighters , which is a HUGE no-no in an older theatre such as the one we were in (“you mean not everyone has progressed to using cell phones for their ballad salutes?,” you may ask – the answer would be “apparently not”). The ushers were rushing around blowing out people’s lighters only to have twice as many hold them up on the other side of the room. The second moment would be Claudio’s lyrical slip-up in the last verse where he actually tickled himself into laughing after he skipped a whole line. From a man that sings about killing people, it was an oddly endearing moment.

All in all, the night was a good one. There were obviously things that could’ve been improved upon, and a band I could’ve lived without, but ultimately the room had a good energy and the performers gave it their all. With the size of the venue being what it was, there was just a certain intimacy that you don’t typically get from a band the size of CoCa. There surely wasn’t a single fan of theirs that walked away disappointed, and hopefully they walked away with another band to add to their regular listening rotations while they were at it!

Check out the full set of The Dear Hunter and Coheed and Cambria photos.