New York City for the weekend! My sister lives up here and I try to make an appearance in the city a couple times a year. As is the case with most large cities, there are so many music venues that I always seem to be able to catch a show while I’m in town. Over the years I've seen some of the best shows of my life in NYC - most notably Oasis at Madison Square Garden in 2008 and Mumford & Sons at Barclays just over one year ago. (Both 5 star shows) This time, NYC performances lived up to its reputation as I saw an incredible Band of Horses show!
I've seen Band of Horses one time before, at Lollapalooza
2013. The band was a subheadliner and played an afternoon slot at one of the largest
stages, drawing over 50,000 festival-goers. I couldn't get anywhere near the
stage, and ended up watching from ¼ mile away and didn't really feel a
connection with the band. Well this show in NYC was the complete other end of
the spectrum. Band of Horses was playing at a historic Broadway theater called
Town Hall. The venue held less than 500 people, an incredibly rare intimate gig
for these guys.
The show is part of a mini acoustic tour that they’re
currently in the middle of. Following the framework of the Foo Fighter’s
acclaimed Skin & Bones tour, the rock group Band of Horses left their
electric guitars behind for these shows. They replaced them with an upright
base, a grand piano, a scaled down drum kit, and an array of acoustic guitars.
As you may imagine, this was no easy ticket. The sold out
show had tickets for as high as $400 on secondary ticket markets. I made the
risky choice of purchasing tickets from a ticket dealer on Craigslist. $70 for
a good seat seemed great, and it was very much too good to be true. The ticket
ended up being fake. But THANKFULLY, the security manager had some sympathy for
me and allowed me to stand in the back of the venue. (seats opened up later
where I sat for the majority of the show.)
So you can guess my frustration level after purchasing
fraudulent tickets for the first time in my life. But that memory was completely
erased once front man Ben Bridwell took the stage promptly at 9PM. This rock
star that usually wears tanks and is covered in tattoos had a completely
different look. He played his first tune, “St. Augustine,” completely solo in a
suit jacket and pants. This set the tone for the night that it would be a much
different Band of Horses concert experience.
Bridwell introduced the rest of the band and all members
took their respective places on the small stage, appropriately lit with floor
lamps. They sat in a half circle and immediately established a very casual
feel. The guys interacted with the crowd, sipped on glasses of wine and joked
with each other in between songs.
The 5 piece group started getting into song after song, and
in all honesty, each one sounded great! The stripped down acoustic sound came
off as very folkish – a genre that Band of Horses could fall into if the folk
sound wasn't usually masked by guitar.
They spent time on each song and inserted plenty of musical
breaks and extended instrumental intros, which were very enjoyable to watch.
Drummer Creighton Barrett entertained the crowd with a “drum solo” using only
his ride cymbal. Guitarist Tyler Ramsey provided an excellent acoustic guitar
solo as the intro for “Everything’s Gonna Be Undone.” These musical
arrangements were a true treat.
The crowd was very respectable throughout the night. At
times you could hear a pin drop in the theater, but at other moments you
couldn't help but hum along or shout out a quick cheer. The atmosphere was very
relaxed as the audience remained in our seats the entire night. But we
definitely were not bored. Everyone clapped as one during “Older” and
sang along to crowd favorite “No One’s Gonna Love You.”
One of the things I was most impressed by was band member
Ryan Monroe, who displayed some amazing versatility throughout the night.
Monroe went back and forth between the grand piano and the ukulele. He sings
backup on many tunes, and even takes the lead on a few songs, giving the band a
slightly more country feel. His best moment was providing a powerful piano
intro for "Detlef Schrempf."
Some other highlights from the concert was a folky “General
Specific” that Bridwell, Ramsey, and Monroe all sang together on one
microphone, as well as the groups most popular tune, “The Funeral.” This
alt-rock classic is usually very guitar and drum heavy. Those were replaced in
this version by a nice piano opening and great use of the upright base as the
rhythm section.
In total, Band of Horses played for a generous two hours, partially due to the increased conversation in-between songs. Arguably the best song of the night was their final closer,
“Is There a Ghost.” As strange as it sounds, the guys absolutely acoustically
rocked this final tune, sending the crowd into a long standing ovation.
My overall opinion that I’m taking with me from this show is
that it is very possible for a band to produce ample sound, even without the
standard drums, guitars and synths that most alt-rock bands use today. This
concert was 5 guys sitting on a stage playing acoustic instruments, but it was
plenty loud. This confirms the strategy used best by the Mumfords, (who
entertain hundreds of thousands at festivals with only plugging in a guitar on
a few select songs), but just in a smaller setting.
This was a special night for sure, and increased my fan hood
in Band of Horses. The guys from Seattle will finish this acoustic tour up
throughout the next month, and will most likely return to their usual
instruments for another run of shows later this year. For fans that couldn't
make it to an acoustic show, I recommend checking out their new live album,
Acoustic at the Ryman. This was recorded over two nights of shows at the Ryman
Auditorium in Nashville last spring. It is a great listen!
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