“I’ll be your BRIGHTSIDE, baby, tonight…”
The announcement first came in late January 2020, that The Lumineers were returning to Kansas City that September, but then…
As we all know, the world changed, and after two and-a-half years since that initial notice, what is now called The BRIGHTSIDE Tour came to a filled T-Mobile Center, and to say that their fans had anticipated the show, is obviously an understatement.
In fact, Colorado had kind of moved east for the evening as all three of the acts on the roster were all Colorado-bred folk rock, making for the most musically cohesive arena show we’ve maybe ever seen.
The night began with a half-hour set from musician (and former member of Elephant Revival) Daniel Rodriguez and his band, in support of debut full-length, Sojourn of a Burning Sun (on Renew/BMG Records). “Colorado” was of course dedicated to his home state, “This is Life” was actually appropriated by The Lumineers and released as a Christmas song so he performed the original version, and he mentioned his sister and aunt were present for the show.
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Next up was South African-born, Boulder CO-based singer/songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov, still in support of his fourth full-length album, Evening Machines and whose bigger sound (enhanced with the strings of an upright bass and violin) was a close kinship to that of the headliner.
He and his band made the most of their forty-five-minutes, working in nine songs as spotlights flashed different primary colors on each band member. 2009’s “This Empty Northern Hemisphere” had a dark and gypsy feel to the song (courtesy of the strings), 2007’s “The Stable Song” asked “Remember when our songs were just like prayers”, and despite the echoing size of the venue, they would end with a quiet acoustic “All Shades of Blue” as all members huddled around a central mic.
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Taking the stage to a taped “Desperado-slowed remix”, The Lumineers wasted no time by starting their (just short of) two-hour set, with all members up front – on the runway tip of the heart-shaped ramps (similar to U2) that jutted forward on the arena floor, as a disco ball and star shapes hung above.
The band itself is down to a core duo (Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites) but triples in size for their live incarnation with its current lineup (Stelth Ulvang – piano, mandolin; Byron Isaacs – bass; Brandon Miller– guitar, mandolin; Lauren Jacobson – strings, piano) being certainly its most animated, and maybe also, its most musically solid assemblage to date
Starting with the title track and moving from radio hit, to hit (...to hit), with “Cleopatra”, breakout song, “Ho Hey”, and “Angela”, the set began so strongly, getting people on their feet immediately, and making that long wait, a distant memory.
The fluidity of their previous arena shows had minor flow hiccups here and there (we’ve followed the band since 2012 when they were playing tiny clubs to 2013 and their first arena tour, to their last US tour back in 2017), but this time there was an additional musical confidence we hadn’t seen prior, showing that they very much deserved to be playing shows at this level.
“Kansas City, you guys are lighting it up tonight!” Schultz mentioned in front of the new album’s “A.M. RADIO” and despite its title, 2012’s “Dead Sea” is very much a love song. Schultz reminisced that it’s already been a decade since the release of their debut album and mentioned how continually amazed they are at the crowd sizes, before launching into that album’s opener, the Dylan-esque “Flowers in Your Hair”.
Their current single, “Where We Are” was prefaced by the story of Schultz and his (now) wife being in a near-fatal Utah car accident and the story of his late uncle immortalized on 2012’s “Charlie Boy”, was also dedicated to current members of service and their own families.
When Schultz asked if there were any birthdays in the audience, it seemed like half the venue’s hands went up, so they carried on with the new “BIRTHDAY” dedicated to everyone that actually had one, and for all those birthdays we had to miss during the pandemic.
Fans turned on their phone flashlights and swayed for “ROLLERCOASTER” and the opening acts returned to help out on a cover from another of Schultz’s influences, Tom Petty’s “Walls”, with Isakov also sticking around for “Salt and the Sea”, a song he covered himself last year.
As for the encore, it went four songs, beginning with just the core duo huddled on a piano on the runway ramp for the character sketch of 2019’s “Donna”. The sound would expand for 2012’s “Submarines” as the band returned, Jacobson happily fiddling and Ulvang always restless on the piano.
For “REMINGTON” and “REPRISE” Schultz headed down to the front of the pit area to high-five fans, and for the closing “Stubborn Love”, the band returned to where they began, at the apex of the runway, though keyboardist Ulvang (now playing acoustic guitar), darted into the audience, balancing with his bare feet along barrier rails and scaling lower-level seats.
That two-and-a-half-year wait turned out to be very worth it as a noticeably seasoned Lumineers played their best arena show that we’ve seen so far. Though recent times have been predictably dark, Eric Idle of Monty Python sang it best – “Always look on the bright side of life” and The Lumineers have done just that, in a triumphant return to the live stage.
(click on any image to enlarge and see in full)
THE LUMINEERS |
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| john c (johnc@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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