The Antlers have been celebrating the tenth anniversary of their breakthrough album Hospice by performing it in full on tour in an acoustic, stripped-down format. The Hospice tour hit NYC over the weekend (3/30-3/31) for a pair of BrooklynVegan and LPR-presented shows at the beautiful First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn Heights. The stately church, with its gothic architecture, spiral staircases leading up to the balcony, and pews that creaked with every movement, made a particularly resonant setting for a performance of The Antlers' haunting concept album of terminal illness and relationship dysfunction. Seated in a row in chairs, Peter Silberman and Michael Lerner were joined by frequent live collaborator Tim Mislock, who also played an ambient solo guitar set to open the show.

Before their unofficial hiatus in 2015, The Antlers' live shows seemed to thrive on creating ever-huger and heavier walls of sound to accompany each song. Stripped down, the Hospice tracks revealed a delicacy I'd forgotten they possessed. Sharon Van Etten didn't appear to reprise her vocal part on "Thirteen," but Peter and Tim more than ably recreated the song's spine-tingling falsetto harmonies. "Wake"s massive outro stopped short of a full throated wail but lost none of its cathartic power.

Following a beloved concept album that's taken root in its listeners mind and spawned its own mythologies is difficult on album and live, but The Antlers' seven-song encore was a fitting denouement and summation of highlights of the most recent parts of their catalog. Both Brooklyn nights had the same setlist, except for one encore song, which was different tracks from Peter's 2017 solo album Impermanence each night. See both setlists below, as well as a few video clips, and pictures from Sunday's show in the gallery above.

Setlist: The Antlers at First Unitarian Church, 4/30/2019 (via)

Prologue

Kettering

Sylvia

Atrophy

Bear

Thirteen

Two

Shiva

Wake

Epilogue

Encore:

I Don't Want Love

Drift Dive

Parade

New York

Surrender

Corsicana

Putting the Dog to Sleep

Setlist: The Antlers at First Unitarian Church, 4/31/2019 (via)

Prologue

Kettering

Sylvia

Atrophy

Bear

Thirteen

Two

Shiva

Wake

Epilogue

Encore:

I Don't Want Love

Drift Dive

Parade

Ahimsa

Surrender

Corsicana

Putting the Dog to Sleep