Manchester Orchestra brought their annual Thanksgiving holiday show (The Stuffing) to Atlanta’s Fox Theatre last Saturday to a hometown crowd that passionately enjoyed every moment. As the band has gotten bigger and bigger (culminating with this year’s impressive LP The Million Masks of God), so have the rooms that Manchester has played in Atlanta. With this year being the eleventh year of the holiday show, the lineup that the band curated was arguably one of the biggest bills Atlanta has seen this fall: Paris Jackson, Slothrust, Briston Maroney, Foxing, and Andy Shauf all took the stage before Manchester, creating a diverse and fun environment for fans to enjoy over the course of the six-hour event. Briston Maroney and Foxing drew the biggest reactions from the Fox Theatre crowd; with both artists having ties to MO, they felt like secondary headliners to the Atlanta band with a ton of fan overlap as they brought their signature sounds to the Fox.
By the time Manchester Orchestra took the stage, the crowd was primed and ready to go nuts for the band. With a lighting rig that mimicked The Million Masks of God‘s artwork, the band launched into a four-song run of the first four tracks of the new record, capping it off with lead single “Bed Head” that brought every fan’s voice into play by the time the chorus hit. From there, it was an hour-long romp through their discography, touching as far back as their debut record with “I Can Barely Breathe” to the raucous stomp of Simple Math’s “Virgin”. The band let their music do the talking for them, briefly punctuating songs with “thank yous” and diving into the next one. After a stunning close to the pre-encore set with an acoustic rendition of TMMOG’s “Telepath”, the band left for a brief intermission only to return with Mean Everything to Nothing’s “Shake It Out”. This song launched the Fox into the stratosphere, creating a near-mosh pit at the bottom of the reserved seats. After a euphoric run through “100 Dollars” that had fans screaming at the top of their lungs, the band closed with A Black Mile to the Surface’s “The Silence” that radiantly raged through the entire theatre. With this show being the closing date of the first leg of their tour, Manchester Orchestra will have the ability in 2022 to bring their style of rock to the west coast for the second leg — you can find those dates and tickets here. Check out our photo coverage of The Stuffing below:
Manchester Orchestra:
Foxing:
Andy Shauf:
Briston Maroney:
