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THE HEAD AND THE HEART SETLIST
All We Ever Knew THE REVIVALISTS SETLIST Good Old Days
When I Got You
Don't Look Back
Down in the Dirt
The Long Con
It Was a Sin
How We Move
Only You
Wish I Knew You
Next to You
You Said It All
Keep Going
All My Friends
Kid
Encore:
Catching Fireflies
Soulfight
JAMIE WYATT SETLIST
Wishing Well
Althea By Your Side Demon Tied to a Chair in My Brain Neon Cross Read More
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The end of the month brought the beginning of a co-headlining tour as roots and folk rock came together with New Orleans’ The Revivalists and Seattle’s The Head and the Heart joining forces for a summer tour that would make its first stop outdoors at Starlight Theatre on a very warm evening in Kansas City.
Americana / outlaw country artist Jamie Wyatt from Nashville (by way of Santa Monica and Tacoma) started the warm evening off with a brief five-song set performed in sunglasses and barefoot, in support of her 2020 sophomore full-length, Neon Cross (on New West Records).
Wyatt began with the opening track from her 2017 debut, Felony Blues, “Wishing Well” and ending with the title track from the most recent record, charming the attendees that braved the triple-digit heat to arrive early enough to catch the first act of the night.
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With a humble “How’s everybody doin’?” from singer Jonathan Russell, Seattle folk rockers The Head and The Heart began their seventy-five-minute set, in support of last year’s Every Shade of Blue album.
We’ve been longtime fans of the band, seeing them on their initial national tour (and an accompanying in-store live set at Electric Fetus in Minneapolis) and several times since, most recently last October in Minnesota. Hopes were dashed that original co-vocalist Josiah Johnson might feel ready enough to join the band on stage for a few dates, including the previous night at Colorado’s Red Rocks, but the band carried on as they always have, impressing veteran followers and making many new ones.
The band was excited to be starting this co-headlining tour, beginning on a high note, with 2016 radio hit, “All We Ever Knew”, “Dreamer” (another 2016 song that they just started playing live three nights previous), and a quick “Happy Birthday” sing-a-long from the band to bassist Chris Zasche’s wife (a north KC native) who was celebrating along with family, who are from nearby Weatherby Lake, just NE of the metro.
Guitarist Matt Gervais was often end to end on the stage, high-fiving and fist-bumping enthusiastic fans, and the crowd seemed to rise louder, every time his wife violinist Charity Thielen took a vocal verse. The band would end their set dialed back to a couple of older songs, 2013’s “Shake” about the transitory nature of relationships, and 2010’s “Rivers and Roads” a fitting song of remembrance following a parting, and the nostalgia of treasuring the moment.
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As can sometimes be the nature of co-headlining tours, the two bands had just met for the first time, at their pre-show dinner, but seemed already musically sympatico and prepared for the numerous cities that lie ahead. New Orleans favorites The Revivalists also had a seventy-five-minute set (plus additional encore time) to win over the crowd, in support of their latest album, Pour It Out Into the Night which was just released on June 2nd via Concord Records.
The eight-piece band has been constantly active and prolific since its 2007 beginnings, managing two pandemic-era EPs recorded in Muscle Shoals, AL, as well as the brand-new record and singer David Shaw was eager to show off the new songs, starting with opening track “Good Old Days” and Shaw getting things started on the good foot singing, “These are the good old days, they're ahead and behind”.
The band is proud of the new record, playing no less than eight of its twelve tracks live- from the swampy “Down in the Dirt” that takes on some of the big questions of life, and the anthemic distorted gospel of “The Long Con” that veers political (a rarity for this band) and attempts to shine the spotlight on the marginalized and underrepresented in this country and the gap between rich and poor seems to grow wider.
As soon as the opening notes of the churning 2015 track “It Was a Sin” were played, a woman could be heard yelling “That’s my favorite song!” and Shaw sang “If life is a blessing, then show me some mercy” on the very danceable new song, “How We Move” that found most out of their chairs and moving, heat and humidity be damned.
The band didn’t save their biggest hit (to date) for last, playing 2016’s “Wish I Knew You” about midway into their set, but extending the jam out, with notable solos from guitarist Zack Feinberg and sax player Rob Ingraham.
“We thought we were going to get a break from the heat… maybe we brought the heat… Ed brought the heat!”, Shaw exclaimed, blaming the high temps on pedal steel player Ed Williams (who indeed did bring the heat on a late set scorching solo).
Ending their main set with the new album’s lead single, “Kid” and Shaw repeating, “They want it loud, they want it now!”(they were rather loud all night, come to think of it), the band would return for a two-song encore (not three as the setlist indicated due to a looming curfew).
2010’s “Catching Fireflies” is a good summer song title but the track also relates the story of a man trying to repent for past mistakes to move forward, and a stirring “Soulfight” from their self-titled EP of a decade ago, would close the night with aplomb.
Despite the lingering heat, it was a fine kickoff to the first show of The Revivalists / The Head and The Heart co-headlining tour, and if the Kansas City show is any indication, other towns are in store for a unique musical treat.
THE HEAD AND THE HEART Tour Dates
Jul 03 McGrath Amphitheatre# Cedar Rapids, IA
Jul 05 Freeman Arts Pavilion# Selbyville, DE
Jul 06 Red Hat Amphitheater# Raleigh, NC
Jul 07 The Atlantis Washington, DC
Jul 08 Merriweather Post Pavilion# Columbia, MD
Jul 09 Stone Pony Summer Stage# Asbury Park, NJ
Jul 11 Ting Pavilion Charlottesville, VA
Jul 12 Skyline Stage at the Mann# Philadelphia, PA
Jul 14 Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater# Bridgeport, CT
Jul 15 Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion# Gilford, NH
Aug 04 Twighlight Concert Series* Salt Lake City, UT
Aug 05 Big Sky Brewing Company Amphitheater* Missoula, MT
Aug 06 Pavilion at Riverfront* Spokane, WA
Aug 08 PNE Amphitheater* Vancouver, BC
Aug 09 Hayden Homes Amphitheater* Bend, OR
Aug 10 Britt Pavilion Jacksonville, OR
Aug 12 The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV
Aug 13 Santa Barbara Bowl* Santa Barbara, CA
Aug 15 Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater* Vail, CO
Aug 16 Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater* Vail, CO
Aug 18 Pinewood Bowl Theater* Lincoln, NE
Aug 19 Tulsa Theater* Tulsa, OK
Aug 20 9th Street Summerfest* Columbia, MO
Aug 21 The Sylvee* Madison, WI
Aug 22 The Sylvee* Madison, WI
Aug 24 Celebrate Brooklyn! Brooklyn, NY
Aug 25 Beach Road Weekend Festival Vineyard Haven, MA
Aug 26 Harrisburg University at Riverfront Park Harrisburg, PA
Aug 31 The Bellwether Los Angeles, CA
Sep 2 - 3 Down in the Valley Napa, CA
Sep 23 Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival Franklin, TN
Sep 29 HeartStrings- Jonathan Russell Solo Richmond, VA
Oct 21 Tampa Pig Jig Tampa, FL
Oct 22 Highball Atlanta, GA
Apr 21, 2024 Moon Crush Miramar Beach, FL
(Click on any image to enlarge and see in full)
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| john c ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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