Live Review: Band of Horses 9/22/16 Central Park Summerstage

Band of Horses

9/22/16 NYC

Central Park, Summerstage

A steamy fall night in the center of Manhattan saw a mellow crowd enter the gorgeous confines of Rumsey Playfield as White Denim was opening up for Band of Horses. The two pop rock acts that are touring behind recent releases finds the groups hopped up on good vibes.

White Denim took the stage first and played their interesting mix of jam, pop, yacht rock as they moved through their nine song set.  The lounge-y, blue eyed soul vibe from "Take It Easy [Ever After Lasting Love]" was a smooth way to work out the late day blues as beer lines grew to obscene lenghts (can Central Park please get some more vendors?!?!) . The energy got more raucous in a "Radar Love" way for closer "Holda Love (I'm Psycho)" jacking things up to fist pumping levels before ending their brief set.

The New York Night was ready for South Carolina based five piece to take the stage. Opening on a relaxed vibe Ben Bridwell let his pedal steel and gorgeous vocals soar over the restrained "Monsters". Not the expected opening, but the scene was set for a great show as the band kicked it up on "The First Song", which was really second on this night. The band is on tour for their recent Why Are You OK? but those songs did not feature much on this night. "Casual Party" and "Hag" were played early with "Throw My Mess Around" and "In A  Drawer" mid-set, but the band seemed to be interested in showcasing their older songs.

The group sounded well oiled as "The Great Salt Lake" rolled out over the city (and Bridwell urged us all to wake up), while "Laredo" got things two stepping and "Detlef Schrempf" eased out into the now cooling night air. The band has a talent to make some of the simplest songs sound vital, what they don't normally do is cover other artists, so it was a great surprise to hear "Powderfinger" get shot off the stage. While not the feedback driven solo fest Neil Young and Crazy Horse may pull out, the band put its clean pop driven stamp on the song, providing an engaging twist on the original.

That began a closing run of some of the groups best numbers with an emotional "Marry Song", the always rousing "General Specific", the burning "Is There A Ghost?" and the slap happy "Weed Party". Closing with a mega "Funeral" the band proved once again that they are a blast live and no matter how restrained their studio albums are, they can still engage proper in the live setting.
___________________________________________________________________
Support both of the bands, peep some video from the show below: