By Alex Brenner
I have been a huge fan of Blind Pilot for over a year now so I was pretty excited when I saw they were playing a cozy club like the Earl. For those of you who do not own their debut 3 Rounds and a Sound, it’s amazing.
First up was Providence, Rhode Island band The Low Anthem. It’s rare when the opening act is just as good, if not better, than the headliner. I had seen their name around, but I was not very familiar with this band at all. By the third song my jaw was on the floor. They must have switched instruments 20 times during the set: moving from drums to pump organ, to upright bass, to French horn, to you name it. It was unreal. Singer Ben Knox Miller’s voice was a gorgeous falsetto with a gentle whisper over tremolo drenched guitar. Along with bassist Jeff Prystowsky and Jocie Adams, this band sounded huge for just three people. From bluesy stomps to tender ballads, this band was on fire and had the sold out crowd going wild. The Earl may be dirty rock club but during the ballads people were dead quiet hanging on to every word. I bought their record the next day and it’s awesome. You can tell they are winning over fans one show at a time.
Next up was Blind Pilot. As mentioned earlier, I am a super fan of this band. Touring as a six piece with banjo, horn/organ, upright bass and xylophone, they played many songs off their record and also played a few new tracks. What’s great about this band is that they are a no frills honest band that relies on great songs rather than gimmicks and they don’t sound like your typical singer/songwriter band which I found very refreshing. Singer Israel Nebeker’s gentle voice had the crowd hooked while the band played flawlessly – even earning applause after every trumpet solo. While their material is quite calming, the songs seemed more upbeat and immediate live. Their new material was really strong but what really brought down the house was their killer cover of Gillian Welch’s “Look at Miss Ohio” [from one of Alex's top 10 albums of the decade] and the shout out to Atlanta in that song was a clever crowd pleaser.
The crowd stomped and screamed for an encore and man did we get one. With the opening chords of “One Red Thread”, the Blind Pilot owned that stage. They reminded me a lot of Josh Ritter if you’ve ever seen him live. Great show. I was super hung over the next morning, but it was totally worth it.
MP3: Blind Pilot – One Red Thread
MP3: The Low Anthem – Charlie Darwin
by Gunter Grass. All are welcome.
