I Just Read About That…

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 1, 2023] Darlingside

I had been thinking about the Darlingside show and how it was kind of sad that I wasn’t dying to see them again.

And then this Free at Noon was announced.

Sure, it was at Ardmore Music Hall, which is far–not even closer to my work like most Free at Noon shows are.  But I was planning on taking some time off and driving to Ardmore and STILL going to the Baroness show that evening.

And then I tested positive for COVID.  Ugh.

This sounds like it would have been a great short spell of seeing Darlingside again.  Although it’s not the same Darlingside anymore, as this review from WXPN’s The Key says

Darlingside’s core four-piece — Paseltiner on guitar and cello, Don Mitchell on guitar and banjo, Auyon Mukharji on mandolin and violin, and David Senft on bass — is augmented on this run by Molly Parden on bass, Benjamin Burns on drums, and Deni Hlavinka on keys. Putting Darlingside in more of a rock band configuration adds energy and atmosphere to new cuts like “Green and Evergreen” and “Green Light,” but their exquisite harmonies soared on older favorites like 2015’s “The God Of Loss.”

One of the best things about Darlingside (aside from the music) is the banter.  And it was in evidence at this show:

As usual, the band used its copious tuning and re-tuning breaks for playful conversation: describing the venue to the radio audience at home, arranging the band intros by hometown and number of syllables in each member’s last name.

And this sounds like an amazing moment

And when they stepped offstage and into the crowd for a breathtaking off-air off-mic encore of Everything Is Alive‘s “The Breaking Of The Day,” played “directly under the disco ball,” they had the room enthralled.

Stupid COVID

SETLIST

• Green And Evergreen
• White Horses
• Green Light
• Hold Your Head Up High
• Right Friend
• Darkening Hour
• The God Of Loss
• Ocean Bed
• The Breaking of The Day