Strong, unique vocals, catching – haunting – melodies, shimmering reverb drenched guitars and anthemic rhythms – this is a recipe for beautiful, ecstatic pop, or so it would seem. Itap also the recipe for Band of Horses’ sound, and their success. And yet, for some reason, the live product seems to come off with quite a bit less of the ecstatic presence one would expect, or at least it did last Monday at Boulder’s Fox Theatre, for the first of two Colorado shows.
As I watched the 90-minute performance by the South Carolina-by-way-of-Seattle band, I was unable to put my thumb on exactly why the vibrancy of the music didn’t seem to be matched by the band. Musically, Band of Horses played a near-flawless set.
Behind Ben Bridwell’s etheric vocals (reminiscent of both Neil Young and Supertramp’s Rick Davies with a nod towards Wayne Coyne), drummer Creighton Barrett, guitarist Tyler Ramsey, bassist Bill Reynolds and keyboardist Ryan Monroe played their signature melancholic southern psychedelia perfectly, with near-album consistency (which, actually, could have contributed to the pall the band seemed to portray).
At times it seemed they were trying to channel The Cure (if the Robert Smith vehicle had risen out of Atlanta rather than the U.K.) and falling more than a little short, as beautiful, pastoral nature scenes looped behind them on a giant screen, often overlaid with kaleidoscopically swirling imagery.
The audience didn’t seem to mind the lack of engagement on the band’s part, however, and was perfectly content to sing along with nearly every word to the band’s mega hit “The Funeral” and a sweeping version of “No One’s Gonna Love You” as well as others.
The set was long enough to include nearly all of the band’s recorded material, and the audience swayed slowly along to all of it, and occasionally stomped and shouted to the livelier tunes, including “The General Specific” and “Ode to LRC” (a pair that truly begged comparison to the aforementioned Supertramp), “Weed Party” and “Our Swords.”
Between songs, Bridwell had little trouble connecting with the audience, and even offered some humorous quips a few times. It was during the songs that he and the band seemed to tone their personality way down, and merely – almost mechanically – played. There was very little movement nor sign of the music’s passion or intensity, which made them seem pretty removed, preoccupied, maybe even a tad bitter.
As enthralling as their records are, the lack of entrancement seemed a bit off, and made it hard to maintain focus on the band. As they wrapped up and ended their set – with a promise to come back for an encore, Bridwell joked that, though they were done, they really weren’t, and would be back for “ . . . three more songs. Thatap what the list says!”
Rather than wry humor, though, the comments came across as a jaded commentary on stage performance and predictability.
Read our Reverb review of Band of Horses’ second stop in Colorado .
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Billy Thieme is a Denver-based writer, an old-school punk and a huge follower of Denver’s vibrant local music scene. Follow Billy’s explorations at , and his giglist at .
