Heaven at The Masquerade played host to Elder’s Through Zero Tour on September 11, and the Atlanta crowd got a set where counting songs barely tells the story. Only eight titles filled the night, but given Elder’s habit of letting songs stretch, twist and evolve over extended passages, the performance carried far more weight than that number suggests.
Asheville’s Bask kicked things off, and they proved a fitting choice without ever feeling like a scaled-down version of the headliner. Their blend of psychedelic rock, Southern flavor and heavier guitar work set a distinct tone right from the start. Pedal steel added texture to songs like “Dig My Heels” and “The Turning,” as the band shifted easily between melodic stretches and heavier passages across the set.
Elder launched into “Sigil to Ruin,” the first of two songs drawn from their 2026 album *Through Zero*. The set then moved across multiple eras of the band’s catalog without ever settling into a predictable hits parade.
That’s largely because Elder’s songs simply don’t function that way.
Rather than building around quick hooks and tidy three or four-minute runtimes, the band lets its music breathe and wander. Heavy riffs dissolve into atmospheric sections before slowly rebuilding, with keyboards often humming underneath the mix, adding depth while the guitars take the spotlight.
“Blind,” from *Reflections of a Floating World*, arrived early, followed by “Coalescence” off 2022’s *Innate Passage*. The night’s second *Through Zero* cut, “Capture/Release,” came next and made clear just how far Elder has traveled from the stoner and doom foundations that once defined them. The guitars and low end still carry real heft, but the progressive and psychedelic elements now get just as much space to unfold.
Guitarists Nick DiSalvo and Michael Risberg traded off layered guitar textures while bassist Jack Donovan brought a strikingly physical energy to center stage. The musicianship itself was the true draw of the night. Elder doesn’t rely on heavy crowd interaction or flashy production to keep a room locked in. Watching the four musicians steer through these songs’ shifting structures was the real spectacle.
The set’s back half brought “Liminality” and “Dream State Return,” followed by “Halcyon” from *Omens*. Elder then returned once more to *Reflections of a Floating World* to close the Atlanta show with “Sanctuary.”
Eight songs might look like a short setlist on paper, but song count has never been the right way to measure an Elder performance. Their music lives in the journey, the quiet stretches, the towering riffs, the guitar leads and the long instrumental detours.
At The Masquerade, Elder let every one of those moments take exactly the time it needed.
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Setlist
- Sigil to Ruin
- Blind
- Coalescence
- Capture/Release
- Liminality
- Dream State Return
- Halcyon
- Sanctuary
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Live photography by Chris Collett for Atlanta Music Press. © 2026 Atlanta Music Press. All rights reserved.
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