The Dear Hunter v "Migrant Returned" (10/6/23)

[SoundscapeMN]

I'm seeing them for the 2nd time in Atlanta this coming weekend, I'm excited once again. I do have a question for you other fans: I've seen a lot of love for every album except Migrant. I understand Migrant is kind of the odd one out, without the concept and ambition of the others, but is the lack of love simply because it's not a good album to some of you or is it just because it isn't as good as the others ? I've been giving it a lot of listens and there is some great songwriting on there, especially The Kiss Of Life, An Escape, Shouting At The Rain, Whisper, Bring You Down, and pretty much all the others. Very underrated record in my opinion.

Migrant was my least favourite when I first got into the band, it's grown on me a LOT though, some of the songs are some of my favourites by TDH, especially after hearing them played live. I like it more than some of the Colour Spectrum EP's and possibly Act I.

Talking of Migrant, I only just realised that the iTunes version of the album has like 7 bonus tracks I haven't got on my copy. I have a big smile on my face now as I have 6 *new TDH songs to fall in love with. My girlfriend is so sick of hearing this band 

Migration Annex I'm pretty sure.

As for what the Lifetime Members are to receive? I'm as in the dark as anyone else, but Max sent out some messages asking for addresses to send them.

I'm wondering if it's Merch or maybe some Street Team stuff, stickers, sampler cds perhaps, etc.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Just got back from the show. Great setlist, including a nice surprise !

[twosuitsluke]

Just got back from the show. Great setlist, including a nice surprise !

Did they play A Night on the Town? That would have been a nice surprise for me as they didn't play it when I saw them 

[Train of Naught]

Just got back from the show. Great setlist, including a nice surprise !

I've read about the surprise I want to hear it now, lowsy Atlanta and their privileges (they played a new song apparently)

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Just in case I'll talk about it in small font, don't know if people want to be spoiled so..:

Yeah, during the middle of the show, the band went out back and Casey stayed out and played Things That Hide Away and then he played a new song he just wrote, called Light. It was a very sweet song and the lyrics had a lot to do with, I believe, a father talking to his son, so this could definitely be Act V material. I remember hearing speculation that Act IV and V would be a double album, though it never was, that could mean that Act V may be out sooner rather than later. Could be wishful thinking though.

It was definitely a nice surprise though, this set list was great. Nothing from Act I and Migrant of course. But also nothing from Act III. The Color Spectrum and Act IV got lots of love !

And the setlist (order may be a bit different than I remember):

Wait
Lillian
Filth and Squalor
Butter Suite IV and V
Is There Anybody Here? (Casey says this is the first time playing it live, and it was fucking amazing.)
Smiling Swine
Things That Hide Away
Light (Acoustic, and sounds like it was meant to be played that way, very beautiful song, I can still hear the main melody in my mind)
A Night on The Town
Collapse of the Great Tide Cliffs (Never would have I expected this , as this is my favorite from TCS and arguably my favorite TDH song. Extremely well done and beautiful.)

Encore:
King of Swords (Reversed) (He said he didn't want to end on such a soft note of the previous song haha) [/text]

[twosuitsluke]

Just in case I'll talk about it in small font, don't know if people want to be spoiled so..:

Yeah, during the middle of the show, the band went out back and Casey stayed out and played Things That Hide Away and then he played a new song he just wrote, called Light. It was a very sweet song and the lyrics had a lot to do with, I believe, a father talking to his son, so this could definitely be Act V material. I remember hearing speculation that Act IV and V would be a double album, though it never was, that could mean that Act V may be out sooner rather than later. Could be wishful thinking though.

It was definitely a nice surprise though, this set list was great. Nothing from Act I and Migrant of course. But also nothing from Act III. The Color Spectrum and Act IV got lots of love !

And the setlist (order may be a bit different than I remember):

Wait
Lillian
Filth and Squalor
Butter Suite IV and V
Is There Anybody Here? (Casey says this is the first time playing it live, and it was fucking amazing.)
Smiling Swine
Things That Hide Away
Light (Acoustic, and sounds like it was meant to be played that way, very beautiful song, I can still hear the main melody in my mind)
A Night on The Town
Collapse of the Great Tide Cliffs (Never would have I expected this , as this is my favorite from TCS and arguably my favorite TDH song. Extremely well done and beautiful.)

Encore:
King of Swords (Reversed) (He said he didn't want to end on such a soft note of the previous song haha) [/text]

Really good news, I will be ready for Act V whenever as long as it's not rushed (which I doubt it will be). I will be buying any deluxe version they release as TDH are close to breaking into top 10 band territory for me. Act IV is probably my favourite album of last year and I've been listening through with the lyric booklet recently and it's only increasing my love. Casey writes some great lyrics. When I get an evening to myself soon I'm planning to listen through Acts I-IV with the lyrics in front of me. After that I'm sure I will love them even more 

[FlyingBIZKIT]

The Dear Hunter is my favorite band right now. As much as I love Between the Buried and Me, I think TDH have surpassed them, and of course Steven Wilson and PT will always be right up there, but something about TDH really just resonates with me on a whole different level. It's funny too cause I remember for a whole year I had Act 1 and thought it was just so awesome. I didn't even bother to check out everything else. I think when A Night On The Town was released as a single, I was really hooked. Then Waves and Wait came out and I was thinking "yeah, this is gonna be amazing." I still don't know what my favorite album of theirs is, it's such a hard time trying to decide. So I guess I won't.

[Train of Naught]

I guess I'm still transitioning between the all-time favorites and recent favorites, I have a hard time calling bands like Metallica one of my favorite bands these days since I just don't listen to them as much as I used to, and when I do it's mostly the nostalgia that gets me excited.

But from the stuff I've been listening to most the last few years, The Dear Hunter is easily one of my favorite bands, haven't put out a single bad album so far. Of recent faves it's probably between TDH and BTBAM for favorite band for me aswell, with honourable mentions of The Mars Volta, Protest the Hero and Periphery.

I still don't know what my favorite album of theirs is, it's such a hard time trying to decide. So I guess I won't.

You and me both, I've ranked the albums in this thread before but the rankings are ever-changing.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

It makes you wonder how far they will go with their music. Act V and VI, surely, but what else ? I think Casey is creative enough to come out with more ambitious and conceptual work.

[millahh]

I think Casey is creative enough to come out with more ambitious and conceptual work.

Like a symphony? 

[Zantera]

I think he should continue striking while the iron is hot. Act IV was really darn good, and the fact that people talk about it as maybe even the best Act-album speaks volumes about how much people liked it. But just before that one came out, he put out arguably his two weakest albums with the symphonic solo album and Migrant, so hopefully he'll take a stab at Act V and knock that out of the park too.

[BlackInk]

I probably like Migrant more than the Act albums except for IV. It's a shame it seems to be considered one of the lesser ones.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

I guess if I had to give a current ranking:

Well I can't. Too hard.

Blue is my favorite Color EP though, and that seems to be among the least favorites of most.

[SoundscapeMN]

I probably like Migrant more than the Act albums except for IV. It's a shame it seems to be considered one of the lesser ones.

a lot of people like myself prefer the songs from the Migration Annex, and feel had a bunch of those songs made it onto Migrant, it would have been better.  Similar to Nil Recurring and Fear of a Blank Planet.

[lordxizor]

I probably like Migrant more than the Act albums except for IV. It's a shame it seems to be considered one of the lesser ones.

a lot of people like myself prefer the songs from the Migration Annex, and feel had a bunch of those songs made it onto Migrant, it would have been better.  Similar to Nil Recurring and Fear of a Blank Planet.

I definitely agree with this. I like Migrant a lot, but by default it's one of my least favorite simply because the others are so awesome.

[BlackInk]

Haven't even heard of "Migration Annex" before now.

[Dr. DTVT]

I'm going to see them in Tampa Wednesday.  Last time I saw them my dog died the day before.  Hopefully that doesn't happen this time.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Talk about bad timing, sorry that happened.

[Dr. DTVT]

That was almost 5 years ago.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

I really hope one day, the vinyl set of The Color Spectrum becomes available again. That would be incredible to have.

[twosuitsluke]

I really hope one day, the vinyl set of The Color Spectrum becomes available again. That would be incredible to have.

I would really love to pick that up too. Will probably try to get all their albums on vinyl sooner or later 

[FlyingBIZKIT]

And last I checked Migrant was hard to find. Luckily the Acts are all on Amazon for good prices.

[Dr. DTVT]

I was really surprised at how young the crowd last night skewed.  Figures that the one concert I go to with a decent amount of females also had lots of teenagers.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

How was the show ?

[Dr. DTVT]

It was good. 

Rare Futures was decent, and O Brother wasn't as terrible as they were in 2011.  I was front row, but off to the side right in front of Nick and Max.  Casey's between song banter was very funny and the crowd kept him on his toes with some rather off the wall stuff.  The crowd was awesome; they knew the fill lines, everyone was very respectful of space, there was a good bit of eye candy, and I met three different people who wanted to talk about Haken with me since I was wearing a Haken shirt - one of them was wearing the same tour shirt I was.

We got the same treat you did, although I don't know if it was offered in the same way.  We didn't get the exact same setlist as you, but it was close.  The one posted on setlist.fm for Tampa is not accurate.  The only thing I would have changed would have been the last song, I wish it would have been something more energetic.  Light was the first of three encore songs, and I'm drawing blanks on the other two, but the show did lack high energy songs for 2 of the 3 encore songs.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Well that's awesome you enjoyed it. Actually I didn't get to see those opening artists. I saw July Talk and they were kind of a blues-punk band or whatever. They did a good job but I wasn't much of a fan of their sound. And yeah, I was pleased with the crowd. A few people of course that wouldn't shut up when he was trying to talk but other than that it was fine.

[Dr. DTVT]

A few of my previous general admission concerts prior to TDH were ones that crowd dickishness made me wonder if I even want to deal with them anymore, but I'm guessing it is more of a fan base issue.

[v_clortho]

I just got into this band and am wondering if anyone knows where to get act 1 and act 3 online for a reasonable price. I could buy the digital album but would much rather have the physical cd.

[Xanthul]

I just got into this band and am wondering if anyone knows where to get act 1 and act 3 online for a reasonable price. I could buy the digital album but would much rather have the physical cd.

Besides amazon and such, the official TDH store is Triple Crown I think. Act I seems out of print at the moment and Act III can be had for 10 bucks (plus shipping I guess).

https://triplecrownrecords.merchdirect.com/products/52074-the-dear-hunter-act-iii-life-and-death-cd

[twosuitsluke]

Finally managed to sit down and listen through Acts I-IV tonight with the lyrics in front of me. That was a hell of an experience. Casey does write some really engaging lyrics, I also noticed lots of little parts where lyrics are reused. There are lots of references to songs that I never noticed. I still don't even know what the story in Act IV is?? I've got an idea but it's still a bit vague. Not tiring of this band any time soon 

[FlyingBIZKIT]

So there's a chance I might be able to grab The Color Spectrum complete collection on vinyl from this guy, I sure hope I can get it.

[twosuitsluke]

So there's a chance I might be able to grab The Color Spectrum complete collection on vinyl from this guy, I sure hope I can get it.

Nice  how much?

Also, the live DVD of The Colour Spectrum, is it worth getting?

[FlyingBIZKIT]

I think 200 dollars. I haven't heard from the guy in 2 days though so I have no clue what's up. And yeah as far as the DVD goes I would say so. I purchased it on best buy for like 20 bucks but it was backordered and eventually cancelled so I'm trying to get my hands on that if I can. I found a couple YouTube clips from it that all look and sound great.

[twosuitsluke]

I think 200 dollars. I haven't heard from the guy in 2 days though so I have no clue what's up. And yeah as far as the DVD goes I would say so. I purchased it on best buy for like 20 bucks but it was backordered and eventually cancelled so I'm trying to get my hands on that if I can. I found a couple YouTube clips from it that all look and sound great.

Yea, I was looking for it on youtube but there is no video of the whole gig. I looked on the Triple Crown Records site and it was sold out. Haven't looked any harder for it than that as of yet. I'll get on eBay

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Let me know if you find a good deal so I can beat you to it.