Review: Mason Jennings / Zach Gill

Mason Jennings and Animal Liberation Orchestra front man Zach Gill took to the stage last week at San Francisco’s legendary Fillmore Theater.

Gill, on apparent hiatus from both ALO, and his duties on the keys as part of Jack Johnson’s band, started the night off with a full set of original solo material. His onstage setup consisted of himself on vocals and accordion, accompanied by a stand-up bassist and acoustic guitarist. His original, fun and goofy acoustic material had the crowd bouncing around, and sometimes busting up at his hilarious lyrics. He ended his set up on stage by himself, singing a fairytale-themed song about a guy named Dieter, the Devil and their legendary accordion battle in Bavaria.

Jennings took to the stage soon after and received a very warm reception from the packed crowd. After greeting his fans, he wasted to time getting down to business. Jennings started off with a few solo-acoustic songs showing off his unique ability to bring deeply contemplative lyrics to life with original and catchy melodies. After warming the crowd up, he called the rest of his simple three-piece band to the stage to pick up the pace. The band rolled through a set filled with a very well balanced mix of mellow, hard rocking, and funky jams.

The concert delivered quite the one-two punch between Gill kicking things off with his clever and entertaining, stripped down acoustic set, followed up by Jennings who brought down the house with his rock solid performance.

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