I’m the narration of this fairytale, lock me in the center of your wishing well

L.S. Dunes is the supergroup to end all supergroups… at least if you’re in the emo/adjacent scene.

Led by frontman Anthony Green (who is a running joke on my show because of how many projects this man has), and featuring Frank Iero from My Chemical Romance, Tucker Rule and Tim Payne from Thursday, and Travis Stever from Coheed and Cambria, this lineup is stacked and their show on Tuesday night at the Parish only proved it.

Their new record Violet dropped in January and Austin kicked off the tour, flanked by supporting act From Indian Lakes and opener Derek Zanetti, both of whom I enjoyed immensely and look forward to hearing more from. Derek handed out Garbage Pail Kid cards and introduced every song as a protest song. What a joy!

The 15-song set featured tracks from both 2022’s Past Lives and their new release, including two tracks which made their live debut: “You Deserve To Be Haunted” and “Holograms.”

Anthony joked that they didn’t practice for these shows – and even forgot how one of the new songs started – but honestly, I don’t believe him for a second. The band sounded perfectly in sync and… have I mentioned what musical legends they are yet? Anthony flows seamlessly from screaming into singing and back again. Tucker’s drumming puts others to shame. Frank and Travis on guitar is a match made in heaven. And Tim is a super underrated bassist.

The best part of the show though was just how much fun they were having! Every time they took a break between songs, various members of the band would shoot a tiny basketball at the hoop at the back of the room. Not a single one of them made it, but Tucker did almost score right before the encore.

“We’re sports guys, you wouldn’t get it.” - Anthony Green

Also, whoever the one security lady was is my new hero. She was a beast, pulling surfers off the crowd and shoving them off the stage before going back for another one. And there was nowhere for them to go – the crowd went right up to the stage, so she had to pull them up onto the stage and then get them around the band members to the stairs at the edge. Absolute legend.

All things considered, I’m still kind of in awe that L.S. Dunes played in such a small, intimate venue. I know as a band they may not be so well-known, but all of their main hustles are huge and, at least Coheed and My Chem, can fill arenas. I feel so thankful that I was able to be in that room with the artists and fans, and left the show feeling more energized than I have in a long time.