Band of Horses began their tour March 15th with a sold out show in Boulder at one of my favorite venues.
The band sounded amazingly tight on the new material, especially so early in the tour. There were a LOT of new songs, but Ben Bridwell chose to forestall any concerns about that by saying "yeah, I know we're playing a lot of new songs, but that doesn't mean we forgot the old stuff... we're just gonna play a shitload of songs tonight". No complaints were heard from the audience.
Highlights included the General Specific, First Song and Great Salt Lake. It was particularly startling and rewarding to see how absolutely comfortable Bridwell looks on stage, how in command of the material and the audience. When I saw them at the Fox in September, 2006 Bridwell seemed a bundle of nerves, worried about disappointing, visibly hoping to get The Funeral out of the way and move onto songs the audience knew less well. What a difference 4 years on the road makes. This band has never sounded better, now is the time to see them live if you get the chance.
Crappy setlist (half-assed and written on my arm) and photos below:
setlist
new song (x2)
Great Salt Lake
Weed Party
new song
Islands on the Coast
Marry Song
new song
No One's Gonna Love You
new song (x2)
Wicked Gil
Ode to the LRC
The Funeral
General Specific
[encore]
First Song
Detlef Schrempf
Yo La Tengo cover
update: just realized I forgot Is There a Ghost in My House, but where in the set? Damn memory.
