Alright, I'm home from my personal little Fauna expedition, so let's recap.
Ended up doing Montreal, Quebec City, Boston, and Philadelphia. The morning after Philly (you know the night sleeping in my own bed), I woke up, stretched, and I shit you not managed to pull a muscle in my neck. Day and a half later I'm still using IcyHot and sore. So I ended up staying home and skipping the NYC show last night.
Arch Echo: Perfect openers. I missed them at the DT show I went to because I showed up late, but man, did they bring it. Often too loud, but still with good sound every night. They were incredibly intense in their stage performance. An amazing job being technical but not at the cost of showmanship. As with most instrumental music, I doubt I'd be into 90 minutes, but if they keeping hopping on tours as openers I'd be thrilled about it. Got a drumstick from them in Philly as a souvenir.
Haken: The setlist is fantastic. Would I make changes, sure, but within reason this was an incredible set, completely changed from the last tour, with some awesome surprises. Really the only thing I'd like different (again, within reason) is for Ray to have brought the drum pads for them to keep the bit of The Architect they cut and then change out Atlas Stone for Alphabet of Me. The material they were presenting was *really* strong, there was no notable lulls. That being said Haken has one issue they need to hopefully address as they continue to grow and expand. They basically play the set start to finish with 2-3 canned one liners from Ross in certain spots. The material kicks ass, and that's great, but some story-telling or personalization (which they could have learned form Russell Allen on the SX tour), or general interaction (see Arch Echo among others) would go a long way in their live shows. Full credit to Ross who has, like Atlas, carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. He has developed as both of a singer and frontman in his professional career to an incredible degree, but it should be a full band effort. Haken, who I love dearly, remain my #1 case of how NOT to perform with a backing track. For so much of the show 5 guys are up there, in their own little world, playing to a track as if they're at home practicing by themselves. Move around, look at each other, play with the audience, etc. Or, alternatively, if they are pretty well set in their ways, as I think they are, as they move up it's time to look into a proper video production in lieu of that last bit.
When it comes to backing vocals, big discussion to be had, as so much has changed in this department post-pandemic. Firstly, Pete has been amazing in this department and helped round things out, big plus there. They have definitely added some assistance to the backing track on some backing vocals, but instead of letting that take over it seems to have given everyone confidence. The actual voices are much higher in the mix than they have been previously, and all together the backing vocals are the most improved aspect of Haken's live performance over the past few years. I do feel however Pete is shorted in the mix when it comes to his keyboards, consistently night after night, which is the downside to the current mix. I had several people comment over several nights that the keyboards were hard to hear, and I certainly agree. As a whole I think this tour is the best the band has sounded live, so can't complain with the overall direction. Even more impressive considering they are working with a new sound guy for this tour.
Random shoutout to the Corona Theater in Montreal, where I saw Haken as well as Coheed & Cambria the night prior, well laid out venue, great sound, friendly and helpful staff... really loved that place.
For how great the staff was there, the opposite can be said for the TLA in Philly.
Highlights outside of the actual shows: Some amazing vegan food in Boston and Philly. For people that live in a big city their whole life, never take for granted how amazing your food options are day in and day out compared to elsewhere. Irving 24 truck stops, amazing facilities (showers) and setups.