I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: July 31, 2017] Fleet Foxes

I recently made a list of the bands that I’d like to see live.  Fleet Foxes was one of them.  So even though getting to the Mann is a hassle, it was a great venue to watch them.

Their debut album is just brilliant.  I recently listened to their second album and realized I didn’t know it that well. Their new album is, I will admit, a bit challenging to get into.  Bit the melodies and the harmonies…oh the harmonies!

I knew that they were playing pretty much the entire new album, but also a lot of the debut album, which is what I came for.  Robin Pecknold’s voice was tremendous (I guess six years off was good for the vocal chords).  And the harmonies of the rest of the band were outstanding.  With 22 songs in about 2 hours, they sounded great.

If there was anything that we could have asked more for it was a better light show.  Not that I need pyrotechnics, but it was so dark most of the time.  And while it did create cool shadows it wasn’t terribly exciting to watch–some cool glowing lights did help from time to time.  But that kept the focus on the music, which is as it should be.

They began with the first three songs from Crack Up.  There are many parts and layers and they all sounded great live–the time changes, the quiet to loud sections, the full orchestration from the band–it all translated well live.  I don’t know if everyone sang harmony vocals, but bassist Christian Wargo certainly added some gorgeous notes.

And then they played a song from Helplessness Blues “Grown Oceans.”  I enjoyed this whole section but I was really looking forward to hearing some of the songs from the debut. In fact, I’d forgotten how good Pecknold’s voice actually is.  It’s not that he doesn’t use it well on the newer songs, but the soaring melodies are much more prevalent on the earlier songs.

Then the opening notes of “Ragged Wood” came along and we all went nuts.  Robin’s voice sounded amazing.  It sounded even better for “Your Protector.”  I also want to acknowledge Matt Barrick on drums–thee songs are pretty complex, and he held things steady with a great variety of styles and sounds.

It was at this point that I noticed of the six (!) guys on stage, the guy on the right (research tells me he is Morgan Henderson) was playing a bunch of different instruments!  He had percussion, he had a trumpet, he had a flute, he had an upright bass, he even played acoustic guitar.  It seemed like half of the music came from him.

After swinging through another song from Helplessness, they returned to Crack Up (after skipping a couple songs from the sequence of the album) for three in the middle including the great new single “Fools Errand.”

A gorgeous “He Doesn’t Know Why” was followed by a delightful “Battery Kinzie.”  And then they took a little break.  I actually assumed that was the encore break–it felt like a very long set as it was.  But then Robin came out with just his acoustic guitar and he played an outstanding solo version of “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song.”

The piano (and mandolin) player (Casey Wescott, I assume) came out to accompany him on “If You Need To, Keep Time on Me.”

And then came the reason I wanted to see Fleet Foxes.  I’m terrible with song names and I forgot a lot of the songs that Fleet Foxes sing.  But they started “Myknonos” my favorite Fleet Foxes song.  It comes from their earlier EP and it is just outstanding.  There are two parts and when then second part came in, I just couldn’t decide whether to film or sing along.  So I did both.

People went even crazier for “White Winter Hymnal.”  This too sounded fantastic.

They followed these with two of the longer songs from Crack Up and Helplessness, including the noisy horn solo at the end of “The Argument.”  For most of the show Pecknold played acoustic guitar so I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the excellent guitar work from Skyler Skjelset.

And then on to a gorgeous “Blue Ridge Mountains.”

They ended the main set with Helplessness Blues, a song that earned a huge sing along, but which I admit I don’t know that well–got to check out HB again, huh?

The band then left for an encore break.  When they came back it was just Robin again for an audience clap-filled performance of “Oliver James” (a song that is not particularly easy to clap along to).  Again, Pecknold’s voice sounded terrific.

I couldn’t imagine what they’d play next–they’d played everything I wanted to hear (there are four more songs on the debut, but I doubted it would have been any of them.  Well, they ended with the final song off the new album.  In terms of encore etiquette I think it was a breach of sorts, but as closure for the show, it worked.

The sound at the Mann Center was beautiful, of course.  And the crowd was thoroughly into it.  I really enjoyed their set a lot.

We had complained about how long it takes us to get to the Mann Center.  Well, the Center mocked us back this night. I like to avoid 95 if possible, so we usually take the PA Turnpike to the Mann.  More out of the way, but typically a little faster.  On the way back I got on 76 to head to the TPK and discovered that the entire road was bottlenecked down to one lane going about 10 MPH.  It took us nearly 2 hours to get home.

I promise myself I won’t go back there.  And yet I’m sure next summer every week there is going to be show I want to go to.