So last night I finally got to see this band live. I went to The Lantern in Bristol with my Dad which is quite a small venue (max capacity 600 I think).
The two support bands were both English (Youth and Grumble Bee), I wasn't particularly blown away by either, musically they sounded ok but I wasn't really a fan of the vocal style of either. Also neither sounded great and at times the drums overpowered everything. I was a bit concerned that Casey's voice would get lost a bit when The Dear Hunter hit the stage (As both support bands suffered at times with this). Thankfully I was wrong.
The band hit the stage playing The Old Haunt, which I absolutely love, Casey's voice came through beautifully and powerfully and dispelled any worries I had. Also the band sounded tight and I was glad that you couldn't hear any one instrument too much over any others. Luckily the focus was all on Casey's magnificent set of pipes and he nailed it!!
Next they played Girl and Wait. I kind of like both but neither are particular favourites. However, Wait performed live is a whole different beast to the studio version and I was thinking to myself "Why have I never realised how great this song really is??". Safe to say, my Dad and I were grinning from ear to ear.
The set continued gloriously, with Casey sounding just perfect, as they hit us with Mustard Gas, The Bitter Suite IV and V: The Congregation and the Sermon in the Silt and Lillian. Again these songs aren't necessarily huge favourites of mine (but I love all off their music really so all songs are kind of favourites) but I found myself loving them all even more.
They burst into Waves next, which I have a huge passion for, and invoked a huge singalong as I really love the lyrics. Smiling Swine followed up and then a beautiful rendition of Home (One of the songs I was hoping for) then finished up with The Church and the Dime and He Said He Had a Story before leaving the stage.
They encored with a great version of King of Swords (Reversed) (Including a keyboard intro/jam session of the Ghostbusters theme) and Whisper.
I must admit I was a little gutted that they didn't play A Night on the Town or Red Hands (Although I've heard that Casey doesn't really like playing it anymore) but I will just continue to see them until they do play them
After they had finished my Dad and I were stood there not quite believing a band that good just played in front of (criminally) about 300 people and that we only paid £10 for a ticket!!! I hope they one day get more success, so they can afford to tour all over the world, as they are just one of the best live bands I have ever witnessed. I had already bought a T-shirt before the gig but as I thought they were so good and the tickets were so cheap I went and bought another copy of Migrant even though I have it as I felt they deserve all the money they can get.
My Dad was well chuffed (I gave him the copy of Migrant as he hasn't heard it yet), he wrote this on his Facebook this morning:
"Last night me and Luke went to see an amazing band in Bristol. They're called The Dear Hunter. It's as if Zeppelin and Yes produced a bastard child with balls of steel, three wonderful guitarists and a VOICE. Wow, what a voice, it soars and it swoops, it screams and soothes. Thank you Luke for a great night, much love, Dad xxxxx"
Think he nailed it
Casey's voice really was at the center of all that made last night so great. Had to write this all down here as I knew you guys would appreciate how good they are. Sorry for the essay though.