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Band of Horses Live
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I’ve been to enough indie shows to know that most aren’t even “shows”, and they’re often hardly “performances”, unless standing still and playing instruments counts. Call me jaded, but paying $25 to watch Death Cab for Cutie play songs that sound identical to the record and occasionally watch one of the band members brush the hair out of their face is makes me feel cheated. I’m not saying you have to be KISS or Weird Al Yankovic, but even an attempt at some stage presence and energy is greatly appreciated.
It’s for this reason that Band of Horses’ show at Spokane’s Knitting Factory last week was so welcome. Bridwell and company certainly didn’t break out fireworks and theatrics, but they put on a solid show, in that a bunch of guys clearly enjoyed playing music to a crowd of people. Despite the fine sounding, yet energy-less opening set from Cass McCombs, BoH took the stage to a full and enthusiastic crowd.
“Hello Eugene!” lead singer Ben Bridwell said as he settled on to his stool in front of his lapsteel. “…Seattle,” he added a few seconds later, smiling, then eventually getting his location right. He continued to grin and the crowd didn’t seem to care. I’ve seen it be a deal breaker for some audiences, but it slipped on by and the band flew into “The First Song”. Video of nature scenes similar to those found on the band’s album covers swirled and mixed on the Knit’s two video screens. A few songs featured still montages of BoH tour hijinks and on-stage images.
Early in the set, Bridwell announced that the band’s new album will be titled Night Rainbow, if my ears served me right, then played a song from it. Though they didn’t announce the song’s name (or I just didn’t hear it), it hinted at a more country sound and featured keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Ryan Monroe exclusively on lead vocals. As a fan whom the band helped turn on to more traditional country music, the song was quality and the move toward more twang is appreciated.
Bridwell is a mighty fine frontman. It’s no surprise that BoH have been headlining large festivals in Europe the last few years. As a unit, the band rock and sway with passion. Monroe (who looks like John Popper’s younger brother) is a strong addition, providing soulful harmonies to Bridwell’s trembling tenor, not to mention beefing up arrangements of BoH standards with both piano and organ. The set list included “Is There a Ghost”, “Ode to LRC”, “The Great Salt Lake”, “Weed Party”, and a rollicking, fresh arrangement of “Marry Song”. The band’s two biggest hits, “The Funeral” and “No One’s Gonna Love You”, were tucked mid-set, about two or three songs prior to the encore. They also included a cover of Whiskeytown’s “A Song for You”. The encore consisted of “Our Swords”, “Monsters”, and the night’s biggest surprise, the final song, a blues rock number. It didn’t resemble anything else the band has done previously and, along with the new song, hinted at a new direction for the band, as it sounds like they’re shedding some of their indie-ness, in favor of a rootsier approach. Given what they treated us to in Spokane, they are comfortable with the shift and can play it with authenticity, even if Bridwell doesn’t remember what city he’s in.
Despite his summer-long absence, Will Thompson still enjoys putting somewhat carefully chosen words in relatively meaningful order.
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MP3: Band of Horses -”Island on the Coast”
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2 Responses to “Band of Horses Live”
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Sounds like a great show! I’m waiting for them to make their way back to Arizona… not to be nitpicky, but the song you posted is “Island on the Coast”, not “Marry Song”.
wow. you describe things really well. you should be a writer.
ryko25@yahoo.com