Josh Ritter w/ Elephant Revival | The Pantages Theatre, Minneapolis, MN- 1/27/16
I’ve seen Josh Ritter in Massachusetts. And in Maine. And in Montreal. Thankfully for alliteration’s sake I’ve moved to Minnesota. Wednesday night it was finally time to drive to “the cities” and take in a concert for the first time in the next M’s favorite “M” city. Ritter delivered as usual. His positive energy is either a sign of someone who really loves their job or has a tumor, and either way it made for a lovely evening. I was eager to see how some of the songs off his new album Sermon on the Rocks, played up live, and I wasn’t disappointed. The upbeat jams like “Getting Ready to Get Down”, “Young Moses”, and the Paul Simon-esque “Cumberland” sounded great live as did new slower jams like “The Stone” and “Birds of the Meadow”; the later in particular let the band rock its damned heart out.
While Ritter and the Royal City Band did lean heavily on the new album, they split the setlist up with tracks from their older records too going as far back as “Come and Find Me”. The usual crowd favorites were present like “Kathleen”, “Snow is Gone”, “Rumors”, and the haunting opener “Idaho” from 2006’s The Animal Years. I think my favorite song of the night was from that same album, “Monster Ballads”. I’ve heard it countless times over the last decades but for whatever reason it always hits me harder when I see it live. I can’t even say for certain that I understand the song, but it’s impossible to not feel it.
I’m truly glad that I was able to see Ritter and company play some new songs in a new place. Contrary to what people may tell you, Boston is not the only city with old theaters where musicians perform. But I’m more glad that I went to the show early enough to see the opening act, Elephant Revival. On first visual inspection it would be easy to dismiss them as another hipster folk-americana band judging by the washboard, banjo, and fiddle BUT they were too damn impressive. Their sound is pretty expansive and surprisingly sharp for a band where everyone kept switching instruments inbetween songs.
With everyone playing the role of a multi-instrumentalist it seems obvious that all the bands members are talented, but its hard not to be most blown away by lead vocalist and washboard enthusiast, Bonnie Paine. Her voice alone, somewhat comparable to The Swell Season’s Marketa Irglova and Of Monsters & Men’s Nanna Bryndis Hillmarsdottir, was enough to knock you on your ass. Breathy, powerful, gorgeous. And it seemed effortless. Like Paine opened her mouth and the musical angels living inside her diaphragm harmoniously escaped all at once. Not to take anything away from the other vocalists, or musicians in general, as even the instrumental songs were enjoyable. In fact, special Empty Bottle Evenings recognition to Bridget Law’s string playing. But mostly I just can’t understand how anyone in attendance listened to Paine and wasn’t won over as an Elephant Revival fan.
Bake
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[…] Petals and it’s from the Colorado Americana band Elephant Revival. I saw them a few months ago opening for Josh Ritter and I was impressed by their live act, especially the vocals from Bonnie Paine and the fiddle […]