Tuesday, November 14, 2017
State Theatre, Portland, Maine
The Lone Bellow is my favorite band. That’s saying something, right? I saw them for the first time back in 2013 in Boston and they stole my heart. Zach, Brian, and Kanene pour their hearts out on stage and give the audience 110%. This is the eighth time I’ve seen them live, and I’ve never seen them offer even just 95% to the crowd. I honestly don’t know how they do it. They’re the best.
This show came at a bad time for me, but I made it work. I was pretty under the weather, and it was parent teacher conference night at school, so I taught all day, had conferences until 8pm, and then flew down to Portland. (Coincidentally, they also played Portland four years ago on my parent teacher conference night. Can I request we stop booking them in November?). Colin, my steadfast concert buddy, kindly saved me a front row center spot along the barricade at the State Theatre, and I arrived a song or two into The Wild Reeds’ opening set. Bobbie and Abra, who run The Lone Bellow’s online fan community, Tree to Grow, were right there along the barricade, too. It was their 39th Lone Bellow show that night. They win. It’s not a competition, though, because everyone who sees The Lone Bellow live wins.
LA’s The Wild Reeds are led by three strong female vocalists and multi instrumentalists–Kinsey Lee, Mackenzie Howe, and Sharon Silva–with powerful voices and great energy on stage. I enjoyed their set (even though it was little hard to hear their vocals) and people near me were clearly fans who knew the words and sang along, too. I listened to their Tiny Desk Concert to prep for the show, and they are quite talented. I would definitely see them again.
The Lone Bellow took the stage after a brief stage swap and dazzled the small, but delighted crowd. I remember a few moments during the show when Zach, Brian, and Kanene were gathered around one mic and I noticed that there was no sound in the room other than their voices. It’s rare that a band can mesmerize a crowd like that, but it’s within the power of The Lone Bellow, for sure.
The Lone Bellow played almost every song from their new album, Walk into a Storm. The new album is excellent and there’s not a single song to skip over, but my favorite song on it is definitely “Long Way to Go,” and I loved hearing it live for the first time in person. Jason (Kanene’s husband) and their new drummer Rico left the stage during an acoustic mini set. I’m not sure how it started, but Zach, Brian, and Kanene ended up covering “Everything I Do (I Do It for You)” by Bryan Adams, and it was amazing. They also sang “Watch Over Us,” which is among my most favorite songs, too.
I learned a fair amount about Zach’s childhood during the show, including the time he set his kitchen on fire toasting a Pop Tart after school and his hobby of catching and naming cottonmouth snakes that his dad wouldn’t let him keep. I also learned that his first CD was the Bodyguard movie soundtrack.
I was thrilled to hear “You Never Need Nobody”and “Green Eyes and a Heart of Gold” live, and was equally happy that “Then Came the Morning”was the encore. The Wild Reeds joined the Lone Bellow on stage, and it was great to see such big, genuine smiles from everyone up there. It was clear they were having a blast. “Then Came the Morning” is such a badass song. Check out these lyrics–“Take my words, breathe them out like smoke/Burn every single letter that I wrote/Let the pages turn to ash, I don’t want them back.” Zach divided the crowd in half and we sang parts and filled the room with sound to close the night together.
The Lone Bellow has gone through some major stuff in the last year, and you can read about it here. It seems like all is well for them and they’re all living in Nashville now and growing their families and fans alike. I can’t say enough about this band. Please check them out. Here’s a full Lone Bellow show recorded in Boston a few years ago that still captures the essence of this soulful, passionate group quite nicely. Please come back to Maine soon!
xo,
bree
whatbreesees 