TDH Tour 2023 - Pt. 1

Brace yourselves, this may be a long one...

If you're a fan of The Dear Hunter, you probably know about their current 2023 USA tour celebrating 10 years of Migrant (and the release of Migrant Returned). If you're a fan of The Dear Hunter (or if you've read my last post), you may also know that I had the honor of doing the artwork for this year's VIP poster! I also traveled to three shows on the first leg of the tour, and made some core memories I'm going to hang onto forever.

So, without further ado, here's a recap of this past week and all its highs and (seldom) lows! This will come in more than one part to save it from getting too lengthy.

I gave The Dear Hunter fur...
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To be fair, I didn't even know they'd be using my art for this VIP poster until a handful of days before the tour kicked off.

Not that I'm complaining about that in the slightest. Just that it was an incredibly pleasant surprise to get that message (and the above teaser) from Casey. In the stretch of time since the band has started touring, I've found myself rather perpetually in awe of the position I find myself in. Never in my life have I thought I'd have my art in the hands of so many people across the country. But here I am, getting pinged by friends here and there, and complete strangers in the fan communities, expressing their excitement and appreciation about the poster.

And my god, I am so deeply grateful for that honor. I mean, wow? It's a dream come true. It really is. I want to express a huge thank-you to Casey as well, for making a point to credit me during every VIP meet, too. I'm not yet used to that level of vocal support and though I'm struggling to overcome a rather terrible case of Impostor Syndrome, it means the world to me.

I had so much fun with this illustration, and it is by and far the largest piece of artwork I've ever made with my own two hands. (Well, sort of? I obviously didn't print it out myself, but, you know.) Most of the guys had no strong opinions about what animals I'd portray them as. Casey knew he wanted to be a red panda, and that his brother Nick should be a giant panda. Max's favorite animal is a raccoon, Sauce wanted to be some sort of cat, and Rob knew immediately upon request that he wanted to be a Nigerian Dwarf Goat.

I know a civet isn't a cat. But they poop coffee beans, and Sauce makes coffee, so I ran with it.

If you're familiar with the band, you may know that they're the guys behind Cave and Canary Guitars. They also play those guitars onstage. So, with Casey's help getting specifics down, I gave Rob his Hircus Rex, Casey his Orion, Max his Meteor Deluxe, and Nick his Super Nova. I think that's a fun little touch that fans in the know about the band (and guitar nerds like me) would enjoy seeing.

It's also worth noting that despite Casey's suggestion to put Rob on his hind-hooves so that he could play guitar with the rest of them, I decided we should have him eating his guitar instead, which has become my favorite thing about this piece by far. Tell me that a goat wouldn't just be chomping on those strings. Go on, tell me I'm wrong.

Show 1 - Oct. 28th, 2023
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To my great surprise - albeit to the sorrow of my wallet - this year's tour not only saw them hitting Cleveland and Philadelphia on either side of me, but my own hometown too. To say I was stoked as all get-out (ha... Tour Pun...) was an understatement. And so, I decided that I'd be dragging myself and my husband to all three shows.

And man was that a great decision.

We kicked off the first of three in Lakewood, OH. Got into town early, met up with Casey for brunch (which was also our first time meeting face to face, which was long overdue and just absolutely lovely), and Nic and I then trawled the streets of the surrounding neighborhood. Found a neat oddities shop right next door to an esoterica store. We window-shopped, got some tasty chai lattes, and then hauled ourselves back to the venue for the VIP experience at 3PM.

Their VIP on this tour consists of a sound-check party (wherein we got to watch them play two songs from the setlist), and then a meet-&-greet-slash-Q&A session and photos with the band followed by early access to the merch table and time to get your poster signed as well as whatever else you may want them to sign. You also get a neat little VIP laminate and first entry to the venue when doors open, which was super nice as someone who likes to be up front during the show.

It was really great getting to sit & listen to the guys answer questions during the Q&A, and to hear some of their stories and silly inside jokes. It was doubly great finally getting to properly meet them all after having worked long-distance with the guys for nearly a year now. (Which, if it's any consolation to myself despite how sad I am to be done seeing them live this year... I get to go right back to hosting their weekly livestreams once they're back from tour. So we won't be gone for long!)

Honorable Mention to my husband's group photo:

Some random guy on the street started pressing his face against the venue's garage door and peeping on the photos. If he was trying to be sneaky about it, he clearly failed.

SO! With VIP done, my own poster in-hand, and a heart full of happiness, we slunk back out into the cold to get some barbecue at a brewery down the street, and then back to the venue once again to hop in line for doors at 6PM. I made so many wonderful friends in line and during the show, and was gifted an adorable Migrant-themed friendship bracelet from my good friend Brittney.

If I have one gripe about the evening, it's that the crowd at Lakewood (at least around me) was uncomfortably abrasive. One girl chose to hit her vape in the front row, and blew it into the air directly into Casey's face as well as Aiden's on a few different occasions. I also got shoved around a fair deal. Two separate individuals put their hands on me during the show to push me out of their way so that they could get in front of me. The first offending party even had the gall to cuss me out for saying something about it.

I understand that I'm (very) tall. I also understand that this may bother people who end up behind me at shows. But I'm also of the strong opinion that shows are first-come first-served. I try to meet in the middle of my desire to be up front, and my wish to accommodate others around me, by standing off to one side or the other so that center-stage isn't blocked by my big head. I get that this doesn't solve everyone's problems. But that doesn't give anyone a right to shove me around.

BUT! I don't want to dwell on that. It's just something that I wanted to point out, and it's something I've only ever experienced at shows in Ohio. It happened in Cleveland during their Antimai tour, too. But it didn't at all detract from what was an incredible experience all around.

We didn't wait around after the show.

We hopped back in the car, happy and hoarse, and made the 3 hour drive back home to rest up on Sunday in preparation for Monday and Tuesday's shows...

Continued in Pt. 2...

(Photo credit to their videographer Justin / @jablesjehu)