TDH Tour 2023 - Pt. 3 (Final)

 - Continued from this blog post -

Though we got home from the Pittsburgh show a little after 1AM, I didn't get to sleep until a little after 3AM. Which on any other occasion would be fine by me, I'm very used to late nights and early mornings.

Except that we had to be up and on the road by 8AM to get to Philadelphia for the next show.

I didn't even have the forethought to pack our bags the night before, so I found myself fumbling around still delirious and a little buzzed. Thankfully we'd only be staying overnight in Philly and my costume for the show was only two pieces in addition to my normal clothes. As chronically late as I am, though, we didn't actually hit the road until about 8:30. Which is still impressive, as tired as I was, and as unwilling to get behind the wheel for a 6ish hour drive as I found myself that morning.

I have a penchant for taking On The Road photos when I really like the sky ahead of me. Which, on this particular day, was gorgeous for all of an hour or two before we ended up under those clouds you see. It was bitter cold, rainy, and terribly gloomy which only made it that much more difficult to be optimistic about the few hours' drive still ahead of me. But I had my music on full blast, most of which was, unsurprisingly, The Dear Hunter (I can't get enough of them), and Nic makes for a great road-trip conversation partner.

I look like garbage, (and I felt like garbage) but I felt obligated to take my annual Rest Stop Bathroom Selfie, too. I feel like you're obligated to do so any time you're driving somewhere, no matter how gross you feel. It's part of The Experience (TM) isn't it? Peep that tour t-shirt with Casey's rad album cover art on it.

We made it to Philadelphia just a little after 1PM.

I dearly hope that I do not ever have to drive around this city ever again in my life. I've driven plenty of crowded city highways and been tailgated down plenty of seedy one-way downtown backstreets. But Philly takes the cake for my least favorite area to navigate behind the wheel, a close second being Chicago.

Our roommate for the trip, my friend Brittney, struggled to find a parking spot just like we did, and we eventually all found ourselves in an overnight lot a few blocks from our Airbnb and the venue. Coincidentally, another car soon pulled in behind her car as she was unloading some things from her trunk. Out of that car popped a wonderful human by the name of Stewart who we'd talked with on the TDH Discord. It was sheer happenstance that had them parking behind her and running into us, though many laughs were shared about the implications that they'd totally meant to do that.

They made these absolutely amazing chainmail bracelets to give out to everyone, and I wish I'd gotten a good picture of mine. It's hot pink and black, and says "An Escape" written in little black letter-beads. It's my favorite song, AND my favorite colors, and I wear it every day now.

Stewart also handmade an amazing cosplay of a Patrolman from The Indigo Child. Pictures of that are further down!

So, to the Airbnb we went, plenty of bags in tow, and we set to getting dressed in our Halloween costumes in preparation for the evening's VIP meet. Though we ended up a little late to the venue, we were still early for the slightly delayed event, so that worked out wonderfully.

Show 3 - Oct. 31st, 2023
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Nic chose to stay back from this VIP, and instead took a nice long nap in our room. While I was a little jealous and in dire need of my own supplemental sleep, I'm very glad I pushed past my exhaustion and joined everyone for my last VIP meet of the trip. Several folks were in costume, as this show was on Halloween and it'd become a rather big deal that we were all excited to get to dress up for the concert. Brittney went as Black Phillip from The VVitch, replete with rad horns, a "Live Deliciously" pin, and a butter purse. It was fantastic.

I took a gamble with my own costume, and it went over pretty well. As I said in my last post, sometimes I like to be an asshole (lovingly), and I figured why not dress up as Casey? He's taken to wearing vacation clothes as his usual wardrobe, and the panama hat and lemon-print Hawaiian shirt are iconic. I also really sort of love the shirt I got and am probably going to continue wearing it unironically, if I'm being honest with you. He even wore one to match me (though I didn't tell him why I'd made that request.)

Once VIP was over, we braved the bitter cold again and headed back to our Airbnb for perhaps the most underwhelming takeout I've ever had. All the same, being that it was the first food that any of the three of us had had yet that day, we were all pretty jazzed to be having hot food regardless.

We made it back in time to be a few minutes late for doors. And, I have to point this out because I found it hilarious, security at the doors saw our VIP badges and assumed that we'd already been searched on our prior entry to the venue for the meet. This was far from the truth, but also of all the people to blindly trust, I can assure you that neither I nor Brittney would ever dare bring anything even remotely illicit into the show. I just got a good kick out of the way they handled it as though we were some sort of legitimately important people when I feel far from it.

It was inside that we met back up with Stewart & their family, and we got photos together! Their costume really is phenomenal, and they said they had taught themself to sew just to make this costume. To which I say, amazing job! It's so cool to see The Indigo Child's cast come to life in such a way, and I'm just so in love with the costume.

All Get Out's bassist stopped me in the crowd before the show.

He recognized me from the last two shows (I was stood right in front of him both times, and as you all know by now I am tall enough to stick out like a sore thumb in a crowd.) From behind, he saw the lemon shirt and panama hat and told me that for a fleeting moment he wondered why Casey was out in the crowd socializing before the show. It helps that I'm only a little taller than him, I guess. But we had a good laugh, talked for a bit, and he headed off to get ready to go on at 7.

What I didn't expect was for their front-man to then call me out for said costume as he was greeting the crowd.

"I heard someone here is dressed as Casey?" he asked, and the house lights went up a little. And there I was standing there like a chump throwing up the cheesiest peace signs. That was pretty cool. I did it as a little in-joke, and was not at all prepared to be called out like that in front of a thousand people. But hey, Core Memories, right?

The Dear Hunter's costumes were on point. Casey was The Pimp and The Priest (all at once, with pimp chains, a gold cross, and a plague mask that he threw into the crowd). Rob was an astronaut, Max was a caveman (bare feet and all), Sauce was a skeleton (bones, bro...), Big Nick was an 80's exercise instructor, and Aiden wore a tiger onesie that had me laughing any time he put his hood up.

(Photo is not mine. Credit to its owner!)

As was the case for the first two evenings, this show was great. Even with Casey's throat issues, you'd never know he was dealing with them. The guys killed it from front to back, and it may be my favorite way that I've ever spent a Halloween night, aside from my wedding which will always top the rest.

There's not much else I can say aside from that I had an incredible time. Leaving the venue that night was especially difficult, knowing that it'd be my last time seeing them play this year. It was a bittersweet departure, but we spent a little time hanging out with Max before they left Philly that night and that eased the sting a little.

I stayed up far too late just talking about anything and everything with Brittney, and she's just wonderful to spend time with. I'm so grateful to have gotten to know so many good friends through The Dear Hunter's fan community, and she's one of my favorites! The next morning we were up and out before 11, and we headed straight home from there.

So here I am now, a full week after that first show in Lakewood.

My heart is still full, though my body and mind are still very tired from so much Peopling, shouting, and singing my heart out night after night. I worked Thursday and Friday, and I'm frankly really glad the bistro wasn't too busy or I may have dropped where I stood. I'd do it all again with no hesitation. And I probably will next year, when they announce their tour for Sunya.

In summation...
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I'm so glad to have had the privilege to make so many memories. I'm so deeply grateful to The Dear Hunter for being so good to me, and to Casey for bringing me under his wing to work on so many awesome things with him. If you'd have told me a year ago that I'd be where I am today, with my art in the hands of people all over the country and a place in the company of the band that's inspired and empowered me for a little over a decade, I'd have laughed in your face. But here I am, and I'm so glad to be here. It really, really is an honor that I will never take for granted.

So, thanks for coming along on this journey with me! And, if you get a chance, I really do implore that you give their music a listen if you haven't already. Better yet, go see them live while they're still on tour! All three bands put on one hell of a show and they deserve all the applause in the world for all their hard work and dedication to doing so.

Until next time!

Still sleepy,

- Lily Marlene

(Photo credit to their videographer Justin / @jablesjehu)