Tuesday, March 30, 2010

"Brooklyn, Brooklyn take me in..."

So my first experience seeing The Avett Brothers, http://www.theavettbrothers.com/us/home, live came during the Austin City Limits Festival last October, in fact they were the first act I saw on Friday at the festival. I knew of the Avetts through KEXP and was really digging on their new single, “I and Love and You.” While watching them at ACL I really liked their sound, their lyrics, and what they were doing on stage. So after I got back I did so more research and listening of this North Carolina band.

Around November, my new friend Michael (who had grown up with the Avetts) asked if I would be interested in seeing them when they came to town March 7th. I was like, “Sure!” So after the holidays and then the celebration that was my birthday the show date finally arrived. They were playing at the House of Blues.

The opening band was called The Low Anthem,
http://www.lowanthem.com/, and they were pretty good. The members were multi-instrumentalists and would shift what they were playing depending on the song, however they kept the same singer (Ben Knox Miller) with the other members harmonizing or singing backing vocals. It was rustic, folksy, slow paced, and was a good choice for an opening band. I think my favorite song was, “Sally, Where'd You Get Your Liquor From?” (a Reverend Gary Davis cover):


When The Avett Brothers took the stage the crowd was roarin’ to go. It was obvious that the audience were fans and sand and danced to every song. Their set list was as follows:

1. The Fall
2. Slight Figure of Speech
3. The Lowering
4. Shame
5. Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise

6. January Wedding

7. Colorshow
8. Laundry Room
9. Paranoia in Bb Major
10. The Ballad of Love and Hate
11. Love Like the Movies
12. Go to Sleep

13. Kick Drum Heart
14. I and Love and You

15. Matrimony
16. Travelin' Song
17. Where Have All the Average People Gone (Roger Miller cover)
18. Murder in the City
(One of my all time favorite lyrics and has me think about how much I love my siblings: “Always remember there was nothing worth sharing/Like the love that let us share our name”)
19. Pretty Girl from Chile
Encore:
20. Yardsale
21. Salvation Song
22. November Blue
(So apparently the Chicago crowd was not as video happy as the Milwaukee or Minneapolis crowds. Since they did play those cities right before Chicago it was pretty much the same setlists. I know they aren’t from the show I saw, but I really wanted you all to experience what they are like live).

From the small taste I got from ACL, I was happy that I got to see them on stage and on their own. They are a really high energy band and really rock it out on things like the banjo. I would definitely see them again and I really look forward to the next time they are in town.

xoxo,
Stefania

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