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Lone Bellow 2020 Poster
The Lone Bellow Setlist
Tour Dates
Mar 6, 2020 Commonwealth Room Salt Lake City, UT
Mar 7, 2020 The Olympic Boise, ID Mar 9, 2020 Imperial Vancouver, BC Mar 10, 2020 Neptune Theatre Seattle, WA Mar 11, 2020 Revolution Hall Portland, OR Mar 13, 2020 The Fillmore San Francisco, CA Mar 14, 2020 Pioneertown Palace Pioneertown, CA Apr 2, 2020 Varsity Theater Minneapolis, MN Apr 3, 2020 Majestic Theatre Madison, WI Apr 4, 2020 Thalia Hall Chicago, IL Apr 5, 2020 Headliners Music Hall Louisville, KY Apr 7, 2020 Saturn Birmingham, AL Apr 8, 2020 Variety Playhouse Atlanta, GA Apr 10, 2020 Haw River Ballroom Saxapahaw, NC Apr 11, 2020 9:30 Club Washington, D.C. Apr 14, 2020 The Opera House Toronto, ON Apr 15, 2020 Union Transfer Philadelphia, PA Apr 16, 2020 Paradise Rock Club Boston, MA Apr 17, 2020 Webster Hall New York, NY Apr 24, 2020 Ryman Auditorium Nashville, TN May 1, 2020 Whelan's Dublin, Ireland May 2, 2020 Kilkenny Roots Festival Kilkenny, Ireland May 4, 2020 Band on the Wall Manchester, UK May 5, 2020 EartH London, UK May 8, 2020 Trix Club Antwerp, Belgium May 9, 2020 Paradiso Tuinzaal Noord Amsterdam, NL May 10, 2020 Privatclub Berlin, Germany May 12, 2020 Amager Bio Copenhagen, DK May 13, 2020 Train Aarhus, DK Aug 6-8, 2020 Bellwether Music Fest Waynesville, OH Aug 29, 2020 Fayetteville Roots Festival Fayetteville, AR Read More
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Appropriately, with a first quarter moon (where half the moon’s surface is illuminated) shining bright overhead outside, a full crowd at the garage at Knuckleheads in Kansas City, MO welcomed Nashville-based Americana band The Lone Bellow back to town on their Half Moon Light Tour.
The garage is one of four stages in this unique and historic venue, opened originally in the late 1800’s as a railroad boarding house near an adjacent amusement park. Its more modern roots date to 2001 and the venue features four stages: the 800-1000 capacity garage (opened in 2015), an outdoor stage, saloon area, and smaller gospel lounge. FYI, it is located near the active train lines, so leave with some additional time, as it’s likely a train crossing may delay your arrival and/or departure.
Early James opened the evening with band The Latest in support of his Dan (Black Keys) Auerbach co-produced full-length, Singing for my Supper (out March 13 on Easy Eye/Nonesuch Records) with the Alabama native (aka James Mullis) taking elements of blues, southern folk, and some raspy-voiced twangy crooning, that’s already caught eyes and ears opening for the likes of Marcus King and Shovels and Rope ,and an upcoming Canadian run with The Black Keys themselves.
James isn’t afraid to open his emotions, both when playing live and on record as the personal themes of most of his ten songs, seem like they were made first and foremost for his own reasons and release, rather than any preconceived commercial aspirations.
Often, some darkness frames the tracks, such as the loneliness from single, ‘High Horse’ with James singing “time’s been the thief all along, it’s the view from this high horse I’m on” though the in-between songs mood was lightened by the banter between he and bass player (with equally impressive sideburns) Adrian Marmolejo.
James also took influence from his Southern upbringing- the Gothic ghosts in stories, and his own grandmother, to permeate into his lyrics, and his set ended with ‘Blue Pill Blues’, another cathartic telling, this one about being in treatment and stopping his antidepressant pills cold turkey.
We’ve followed The Lone Bellow (singer/guitarist Zach Williams, multi-instrumentalist Kanene Donehey Pipkin and guitarist Brian Elmquist) since the band’s beginnings and first trips outside of Brooklyn, almost a decade ago, and they’ve just returned with fifth studio album, Half Moon Light (on Dualtone Music Group) with production once again helmed by Aaron (The National) Dessner, a somewhat somber full-length that manages to extract the joys of life, amidst the pains associated with death.
Their ninety-five minute set started as the new record does, with an intro seguing into ‘I Can Feel You Dancing’ a paean to Williams’ and Elmquist’s recently departed grandfathers, featuring an actual audio clip of Williams’ grandmother on piano. From there, more new tracks in the form of ‘Wonder’ and ‘Good Times’ featuring their precise trademark three-part harmonies and singing, “let no good times slip away” reminding everyone the value of waking up every day.
2013’s ‘You Never Need Nobody’ is a template track to showcase those harmonies, and the dichotomy of both ‘Enemies’ (described as “a love song”) and ‘Friends’ both from the new record, were explored live, melding their country, Americana, gospel, soul and blues influences into a mostly joyful stomp and shout live experience.
Williams joked about beating his opening act at pool, saying they were very much enjoying their tour together, and Pipkin’s distinctive vocals took center stage for the new, ‘Just Enough to Get By’, Like every good woman, Pipkin is backed by a good man, in this case her husband Jason Pipkin directly behind her on piano and bass, alongside drummer Julian (Whigs, Eagles of Death Metal) Dorio.
After the hot house rocking ‘Georgia Will’, things slowed down slightly with an acoustic mini-set and lights dimmed and the trio gathered around a single center mic. The band’s 90’s R&B influence shone through again, as the trio unexpectedly riffed into a nearly complete cover of Boyz II Men’s 1995 hit, ‘Water Runs Dry’, with Pipkin reminiscing listening intently to American Top 40 for the song and Elmquist calling it the second tune he learned on guitar.
Things really picked up towards the end of the main set, with the aforementioned new ‘Friends’, infectious ‘Green Eyes and a Heart of Gold’ from 2013, the gospel awakening of ‘Then Came the Morning’ and the emotional release of ’Count on Me’ the lead single from the new record, with its lyrics, “Let it break you, let it help you lay down what you held onto”.
The two-song encore began with one of their most heartfelt songs, 2013’s ‘Tree to Grow’, whose lyrics also happen unintentionally to tie in to the themes and loss reflected on the new album. Tempo picked up with a bass line similar to Otis Redding’s ‘I Can’t Turn You Loose’ to begin ‘Time’s Always Leavin’, the final song of the evening which had the band literally and lyrically slipping away behind the curtain and out into the half moon light.
While other bands may merge a similar amalgam of gospel, soul, country, blues, and Americana, none does that sound quite like The Lone Bellow, who are their most mesmerizing experienced live in concert, and as they sing in the new ‘Martingales’, “what a sound, what a sound”.
(click on any photo below to enlarge and see full image)
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The Lone Bellow at Knuckleheads, Kansas City, MO (02 Mar 2020) |
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