I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: July 28, 2014] Band of Horses

When I saw that Beck and Band of Horses were headlining the Sunday night of the XPoNential Music Festival this year, I immediately got tickets.  Sarah and I are huge fans of both bands, so it was a no brainer.  The harder part was trying to decide if we wanted to go to the rest of the festival.  Ultimately we decided we did not. Sure there were a lot of bands who would have been great to see, but neither one of us wanted to spend the whole hot day in the sun paying a crazy fortune for food and drinks… and you can only ask grandma to do so much babysitting, right?  So, even though the price was right ($45 for a three day pass, holy cow), we opted to stay only for the headliners.

And, yes I did toy with the idea of heading in earlier to see Man Man again, but XPN thoughtfully broadcast the shows on the radio, so it was like I was there (they did not broadcast the shows from inside the Bank Center).  The opening act for our night was The Districts, a local Philly band who are getting major reviews.  But we arrived after they finished, so I have nothing to say about them.

We’d never been to SBC before.  It is like a bigger version of the PNC Arts Center in Holmdel–a big open-aired theater with nice lawn seating.  The major major gripe was the parking–$30.  THIRTY?  Really, what is this Manhattan?  True, I’d rather pay thirty dollars than park on the streets of Camden, but come on.  Of course, when we got inside and saw that a beer was $14 (for a “premium” brew), we decided that it was either park the car or have a beer.  So that made us feel better.  And, on the way, out, the exiting was much better than PNC (and many other venues), so okay, but still. 

We were pretty psyched about our seats because they were in Row J (that’s 10 rows out).  Unfortunately, they were pretty far to the left.  Not exactly obscured view, but slightly awkwardly left.  This meant that we couldn’t see the keyboardist of Band of Horses at all, but we had a great view of the main guys.

In the days leading up to the show, I realized that BoH had a new album out that I didn’t know very well.  I had listened to it recently and thought it was okay but nowhere near as good as their previous ones.  So I was a little bit less excited, imagining that they’d be playing most of the newer stuff and not the older stuff I loved.  And they opened with a song I didn’t recognize.  It sounded great, but it wasn’t quite the highs I was imagining.  And so I at least hoped they’d play a few songs I knew.

From that point on, it was alike a Band of Horses greatest hits set–one amazing song after another. I couldn’t believe that they played…well, almost everything I love by them (No St. Augustine, which bummed Sarah a wee bit, but since they played every other great song, it was okay.  It seems like they typically play it during a brief acoustic set which they didn’t have time to do).  I’m looking for an official setlist because I don’t know any of the names of their songs, but I’ve compiled a list of some of the ones they played below.

The most important thing to note is that Ben Bridwell’s voice sounds amazing live.  He has a very distinctive and powerful voice, and I was thrilled to hear how good he sounded live.  He never missed a note and never wavered on anything.  It was fantastic.  Also fantastic was keyboardist/guitarist/all around dude Ryan Monroe’s backing vocals.  I had assumed that the group did multi-part harmonies (which they do), but all of the great harmonies that I know from the band come from Monroe.   Which is not to say that Tyler Ramsey (lead guitar) and Bill Reynolds (bass) don’t add harmonies, because they do, but most of those voices are from Monroe.  And let’s not forget Creighton Barrett who pounded the hell out of the drums.  Man, was he loud, he really added to the overall feel of the show.

When they launched into some of the great soaring tracks from my favorite album, Cease to Begin (deep cuts like Cigarettes, Wedding Bands), it was really transporting.  The band was loud, a little raw (almost sloppy) which brought a great looseness to the songs.  And yet, Bridwell never faltered.  He played lead guitar, slide guitar and an occasional tambourine.  I have no idea what he was saying between the songs (and I realized that I actually don’t really know many of the words to their songs, just the melodies) but I think that may have been because we were off to the side–I imagine the sound would have been a bit better in the middle.  But we’ve got no complaints.

Especially when they launched into a great version of Neil Young’s “Powderfinger.”  They had the Crazy Horse vibe down completely, and the backing vocals were spot on.  “Powderfinger” is one of my favorite Neil Young songs so it was an especially exiting cover for me.

One thing I really liked about the show was that as each song ended, one member of the band kept the chord going while the rest of the band got ready for the next song.  So, there was really never a moment’s silence–there was feedback or just general rumbling as they prepped for what came next.  It gave a great flow to the show.  I also enjoyed when Bridwell strapped on his guitar and Monroe came down from the keyboards to play guitar bringing four guitars (okay, one bass) on stage.

The show was exhilarating and such a joy.  I hoped they’d do an encore, but the set times were pretty strictly controlled, so I’m satisfied that we got a great hour and fifteen minute set.  I know I’m missing a song or two here, but I hope to fix that soon.

Here’s the updated concert list, with my original guess below it.

• Factory
• Cigarettes, Wedding Bands
• Ode to LRC
• Laredo
• The General Specific
• The First Song
• No One’s Gonna Love You
• Is There a Ghost
• Islands on the Coast (and he hit those high notes!)
• Powderfinger
• The Great Salt lake
• Funeral