User Rating: / 11
PoorBest 

Saturday, 28 May 2011 01:03

Written by Scott Mervis

Befitting the music, it's usually an adventure when the Avett Brothers come to town.

There was the Club Cafe equipment-failure gig. The Diesel snowstorm gig. The Arts Festival thunderstorm gig. And the 100-degree roller rink gig.

The forecast called for Stage AE to be the washout gig.

But a strange thing happened. The nearly all-day rain went away and the only remotely extreme condition was the number of people packed into the sold-out Stage AE outdoor amphitheater.

That left the fans and the Avetts free to focus on the songs, and the result was mutual lovefest for 90-plus minutes and 20-some songs. It began with the rousing (yes, rousing) "Go to Sleep," putting the crowd on the floor into country-punk pogo mode, while Avetts blended harmonies and banged away on guitar, banjo and cello.

The band kept up the energy through "Tin Man" (not the America song), the thrashy "I Killed Sally's Lover" and "Shame," one of the best displays of Scott and Seth's divine sibling harmonies. (I got lucky enough to sit with the Avett Parents, Jim and Susie, and watch them beam with pride while the crowd went wild over the boys.)

The centerpiece was "Laundry Room," a gorgeous confessional ballad that morphed into a rowdy spin mode. The Avetts also used the middle of the set for some less familiar songs, like Seth's ballad "I've Never Been Alive" and a cover of Dave Childers' lovely country ballad "The Prettiest Thing," which gave bassist Bob Crawford a rare turn on a lead vocal. The crowd roared when Scott sang "there was a special on PBR."
Another surprise was "The Once and Future Carpenter," a sort of ramblin'-gamblin' ballad that's sure to be a highlight of the next record.

"Kick Drum Heart" beat at a rapid pop pace, leading into an uncharacteristic electric jam that introduced "Colorshow," highlighted by Scott's barrelhouse piano and lots of hooting and hollering.

The Avetts singing "We came for salvation, we came for family" on "Salvation Song" was the perfect time to bring papa Avett on stage for a quick vocal cameo. Although they mentioned opener Nicole Atkins, who played a strong set of Americana, she never joined them.

Sometimes they like to send people home chilled out. On Friday night, they got the pogo thing going again on a slamming "Talk on Indolence," the Avetts' crazy early experiment with rap-rock and bluegrass.

I haven't seen the Avetts play anywhere else, but you could sense the strong bond between the group and the city which led to this sold-out show. Although it's been fun to see the crowd grow every time, this may be the peak size to maintain that intimacy so important to this band.

PHOTO BY HUGH TWYMAN

Comments (1)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

...
written by inmytree1380, June 01, 2011 - 09:25 PM

*t is really hard to believe that their show gets better with each visit-Friday night's setlist was perfect! I especially liked how much material they pulled from "Emotionalism" and "The Robbinsville Sessions." And, for some reason or another, the "I and Love and You" songs sounded more inspired than they did at the roller disco (they place was so aweful).

• 
• +0
• 
•