LIVE REVIEW: MELANIE MARTINEZ – HADES: THE SACRIFICE TOUR @ GAS SOUTH ARENA, DULUTH, GA – JULY 28, 2026

It takes a special artist to build an entire universe on an arena stage, and that is precisely what Melanie Martinez did at Gas South Arena. Bringing HADES: The Sacrifice Tour to Duluth, Georgia, Martinez took the audience on a journey through a whimsically-visualed world while also commentating on the bleak, AI-dominated dystopia known as Hades. The was night full of frilly costuming, sharp choreography, and interconnected theatrical storytelling, playing through the HADES album front-to-back to explore the dark, consumerist traps of this engineered world.

The evening started strong with Isabel DeRosa, who made a dramatic entry, carried onstage by two dancers. Her commanding stage presence took over instantly as she moved through her set effortlessly. Delivering clean, sharp vocals, DeRosa’s dark-pop sound served as a natural pairing for the ominous thematic record to follow. DeRosa even shared that she had been listening to Martinez since she was eight years old, honoring the profound impact Martinez had on her musical journey and expressing what a privilege it was to open the tour.

From there, it was time to cross into Hades. Blue lights filled the room, and the show-defining narration appeared on screen as a robotic voice echoed through the arena to establish the lore. The voice presented her character, “Circle,” a woman extracted from an isolated cult outside of the futuristic, tech-obsessed AI society, who would be narrating her experience in Hades. Then, Martinez’s voice, narrating as Circle, started playing. As Circle’s observations boomed over the speakers, the tension built until Martinez emerged, popping out of a suitcase on a bed, amidst a blast of pyro, before launching into “GARBAGE.”

Throughout the set, Circle’s spoken observations introduced most tracks, accompanied by on-screen typing, with each statement leading directly into the title of the song. When it was time for “WHITE BOY WITH A GUN,” a table rose from the stage floor as Martinez performed an illustrative dance duet. However, the intro to the following track broke away from the spoken narrative format. Instead, the dancers dragging Martinez toward a glass orb where Hades Tech shocked her into a submissive, sanitized performer persona. The table remained in place for the following song, “DISNEY PRINCESS,” where the full cast of dancers came back. The song ended with the table, along with Martinez on top, descending back below the stage floor.

Keeping energy high, Martinez and her troupe reappeared on the B-stage, bathed in a harsh red light for “GRUDGES.” During “MONOPOLY MAN,” the dancers twirled around the space, clutching large coin props. Then, shifting tones, Martinez pulled an audience member onto the stage to sit on the floor with her, holding hands, while singing “AVOIDANT” directly to them. After, the fan left the stage, but that intimacy continued during “MONOLITH,” where the Circle voiceover asked the crowd to turn on their phone flashlights as glowing orbs descended from the ceiling and a beautiful dance number took place. Picking the energy back up with a tone change, the dancers then stripped Martinez of her attire and dressed her in a ruffled gown with a chest plate for “WEIGHT WATCHERS,” unraveling ribbon and internal organs from the outfit in a blunt piece of visual commentary.

Returning to the main stage, Circle’s voiceover introduced the plague corrupting Hades, accompanied by dancers acting out vignettes including a coughing fit, a crying infant, and a person and their cow. Martinez was then dragged across the floor to begin “THE PLAGUE.” Spoken intros continued to frame the following tracks, paired with elaborate set pieces, including a clothing rack from the ceiling for “UNCANNY VALLEY” and later a lounge chair with an umbrella for “HELL’S FRONT PORCH.” A peak moment came during “THE VATICAN,” where Martinez stepped out in nun-style attire for a fully choreographed piece. For the final song of the main set, “CHATROOM,” a whimsical computer was brought out on stage as lyrics scrolled across the screen in a chat font. Mid-song, the computer erupted in a burst of sparks following the line “delete my account.” Martinez then took a moment to shout out her band (finally revealed to be concealed behind the video wall) and her dance crew.

For the encore, Martinez returned to the B-stage, now decorated with the furniture of a living room, dancing alongside another performer for “THE LAST TWO PEOPLE ON EARTH.” At the climax of the song, pyro burst out across the stage, matching the prior voiceover’s warning that Hades could only be reshaped by burning it down first. As a shower of confetti filled the air as Martinez made her exit, the letters “GTFO” appeared on screen, a cheeky final word to punctuate the night of immersive art pop and societal commentary.

Melanie Martinez Photo Gallery

Isabel LaRosa Photo Gallery

Setlist

• GARBAGE
• IS THIS A CULT?
• POSSESSION
• WHITE BOY WITH A GUN
• DISNEY PRINCESS
• GRUDGES
• MONOPOLY MAN
• AVOIDANT
• MONOLITH
• WEIGHT WATCHERS
• THE PLAGUE
• BATSHIT INTELLIGENCE
• GUTTER
• UNCANNY VALLEY
• THE VATICAN
• HELL'S FRONT PORCH
• CHATROOM
• Encore:
• THE LAST TWO PEOPLE ON EARTH

Watch

Tour Poster

Follow

Upcoming Shows

More live coverage from No Flash Needed

Live photography by Anna Daugherty for No Flash Needed. © 2026 No Flash Needed. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without written permission.