WORDS AND PHOTOS: NATHAN PAYNE | Kazoo. The name conjures thoughts of childhood birthday parties and elementary school music classes. You wouldn’t associate it with the rumbling opener from The Avett Brothers storming the stage at Pier 6, but that’s exactly what happened. Earlier in the night, Baltimore native Cris Jacobs set the crowd on fire with a mind-blowing acoustic opening set and The Avett Brothers fanned the flames with kazoos, performing “The D Bag Rag” in a cloud of stage fog that complimented their blazing entrance.
From that point on the energy never slowed down. The Avett Brothers unique blend of eclectic rhythms and lyrics washed over the crowd and set the tone for a set list containing songs from their up can coming album, True Sadness, an upbeat renovation to their low and slow string-serenades. In the past, The Avett Brothers rounded out a slightly more docile form of folk rock music. As the years have progressed, their sound has become richer and more dynamic, and the music from their new album is no exception.
The initial songs flowed from one to the next, mixing both old and new tunes, showcasing their growth and complexity as a band. It’s as if someone hooked up a guitar amp to the wild wild west. They’ve added an electric element to old-fashioned storytelling music that has a dynamic like no other. The Avett Brothers’ sound is happy, sad, snarky, sweet, and always relatable.
After an exceptional set of crowd-thumping tunes, Scott Avett walked out on stage under a solitary spotlight and performed “Murder in The City.” The crowd sang back up vocals and the harbor breeze carried the mixture of voices up and out into the city air. It was the only point in the evening where a silent pause could be heard after a song had ended.
Not long after that, the music skyrocketed again and the stage exploded in white and gold light creating a live action scene in sepia. Silhouettes danced over the crowd like audio monitor readout, and for much of the rest of the night the Avett Brothers sang side-by-side, campfire style. It was almost as if they created a semicircle around a giant bonfire and the audience was the person filling in the gap.
They proceeded to round out the night with songs like “Winter in My Heart,” “At The Beach,” and “Kick Drum Heart.” They truly lived up to what one would expect from such a dynamic group of musicians. The show encompassed a spectrum of music and lyrics exhibiting a variety of emotions and passions as only they could do.
The crowd almost became family by the end of the night. People sang together during the encore while white and gold light flooded the harbor, holding true to the idea that “there was nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name.”
