Dev Lemons Brought Genre-Bending New Album 'hunting what we already killed' to Atlanta with a Dramatic Performance
LA-based musician Dev Lemons stopped by Atlanta last week on her hunting what we already killed tour, bringing a night of singalongs, shenanigans and acrobatics.
As we approached the line quickly forming outside of The Loft on Friday night, we saw spatulas, marching band costumes and jellyfish headwear. This sight may have taken Midtown at large by surprise, but if you’ve been following Dev Lemons’ current tour, you know that the band’s stage getups are inspired by the iconic Bubble Bowl episode of SpongeBob.
After an opening set by Abby Kenna, Lemons made a dramatic stage entrance befitting this theme, emerging from backstage tasseled at the hips and in her finest chorded vest. Doubled-up false lashes made her extra wide-eyed, but I’m sure her excitement would’ve translated regardless. Requiring no warm-up to engagement, she started with “in the middle of the night” before really ramping up with the surprisingly headbanging “another word you say.” These two songs back-to-back were the perfect reminder that HWWAK is a genre-bender in the truest sense. Sometime around here, Lemons also gave us her first cartwheel of the night before receiving a SpongeBob figurine gift from an audience member.
Mid-set, Lemons pulled out her hand cymbals (which were a recurring character throughout the show), clashing in time to an “ATL hoe” cheer from the audience. We also sang happy birthday to a VIP audience member named Rico. These moments weren’t the only time the crowd was part of the performance, though. Almost the entire front row sang along to every song, old and new.
After playing almost the entire new record, Lemons nervously gave some directions down memory lane, leading us to the portion of the show where she played her oldies, including “Maybe I’m the Reason,” “FACE,” and “NICE TRY.” She finished with album highlight “eat the pavement,” promising to come back for an encore song and a segment she kept referring to as “something else” if we asked nicely.
Sure enough, Lemons and the band returned to end the night with “best friend.” The "something else” ended up being a group acrobatic trick including Abby Kenna. Lemons was hoisted upside down by the legs over her guitarist’s back while Kenna hung by the arms on his front side, the whole operation spotted by Lemons’ drummer. It was a delightfully silly, yet impressive end to a show that can be described the same way.
