Kevin Atwater's "Achilles" Tour in Dallas

 May 1st, 2025

I bought Elli tickets to see Kevin Atwater at Club Dada for her graduation gift. I gave her a few options of upcoming shows we've been anticipating together and this one worked out the best for both of us.

I have been following Kevin and listening to his music for about two years now. He has made his rounds on Tiktok, going viral for posting snippets of original songs several times in the past, and he just recently released his full debut album! His journey as an artist has been a sweet one to follow because his songwriting comes from such a vulnerable, genuine place that many creatives (across all genres and mediums) shy away from spotlighting, and you can connect with the emotion in his music regardless of whether or not the specific experience itself is relatable to you. I think one of the most special traits to harness as a singer-songwriter is the ability to resonate with your audience when writing about something personal to you, and Kevin has always done that for me. Even when he is telling a story I have no personal connection to, I find myself feeling those emotions anyway.

April 30th, 2025

(Before I even write anything else, I will admit upfront I only took two photos and one out-of-focus video at this show. I usually try to take a few for the sake of the blog, honestly, but I was in the back having an immersive experience at this one, so that sort of slipped my mind... Just believe he looked good and the show was worthy of much better photography skills. This has been your disclaimer.)

Club Dada is always one of my favorite venues and I do not believe I've ever seen a crowd so young fill that room, but it was inspiring to see so many teenagers show up for live music! I have been an avid concert-goer for the past ten years and I love seeing young people show up to experience those same kinds of things. Live music shaped my life in unimaginable ways, and supporting small artists and local venues is always a huge deal!

Elli and I hung in the back for this show, mostly because we got there a little later and we both consider ourselves to be more casual fans, though we have been excitedly following his social media platforms in anticipation for this show. I handpicked a few songs off of his new album, Achilles, to familiarize myself with and I have always been a big fan of Downers Grove, both the original recordings and the "reimagined" versions featuring other artists. Elli, on the other hand, has been on a roll with this new album. She is obsessed with the track "Call of Duty", and we were both struck by what Kevin had to say about the song before he played it and how powerful the performance itself was. We talked about that song alone for about 10 minutes on our drive home.

My personal favorite of the newer tracks is "The Cage", which has a stronger build in comparison to many of his other songs. He played this pretty early on in the set, prefacing the song with something along the lines of "you can't hurt me and I will kill you," and this was the first time I could really hear the voices of the people around me lifted up with his. I got chills probably three separate times during this performance alone, which Elli and I both sort of giggled about, but it was truly that impactful of a moment in the set.

Naturally, this happened a couple of other times as well. "Call of Duty" being one, "Caleb" being another, and I was struck by "Why did you invite me to your wedding?" in a deeper sense than I have ever been before. I'm serious, the power of live music is a miraculous thing. It is incomparable to anything else.

I thought his setlist was perfectly curated. The flow from song to song was almost a thematic progression, he did an incredible job of telling a story across several albums in an hour and a half. Elli also commented on how outgoing and entertaining he was "conversationally" between songs, telling jokes, stories, and interacting with people who spoke up in the crowd.

He made sure to thank the crowd and express gratitude for the experience of touring, talking about how incredible it was to be on his end of things, though this would've been clear whether he took the time to say it out loud or not. You could see in his facial expressions throughout the show that touring these songs is a dream come true for him. It was so sweet to witness from the back of the room with a clear view of the fans jumping, dancing, hugging, and swaying along to all of the songs. This was awe-filled moment for me, so I can only imagine what it'd be like as the performer!

May 1st, 2025

Kevin made the most of the small stage and three-piece band without taking away from the intimacy of the venue and the music. I was expecting to enjoy this show, but I was not expecting to be so blown away by so many moving aspects of it. Needless to say, I thought this was incredibly well done! I would love to see him again in the future.

Thanks for reading! I loved writing this one (and knowing myself, there's probably more coming soon) ! You'll see it when it happens!

- Drew