The Lone Bellow Roll Balance Emotional Sweeps & Rapturous Energy at New York’s Webster Hall (SHOW REVIEW)

Photo by Eric Ryan Anderson

Hot on the heels of the release of their fifth studio album, this month’s Love Songs For Losers, Americana outfit The Lone Bellow rolled through their old stomping grounds Sunday night for a powerful show at New York’s Webster Hall on November 13th. The trio has gained what feels like something of a cult following in the folk and country scenes largely in part due to their reputation for rapturous live shows, and their reputation is still well-deserved. 

The hometown set leaned heavily on material from the new record, featuring seven of its eleven songs, and almost all of it took on a wholly new light as they brought it to the stage, something that has long been the case with this band. “I’m In Love” set the tone early in the night, bursting with a joyousness that matched its title and leading perfectly into high-energy renditions of fan favorites “Cold As It Is” and “Time’s Always Leaving”.

By the end of that first push singer Zachary Williams had already unleashed his inner southern preacher, singing and running back and forth across the stage with such intensity that he was practically drenched in sweat already, and so he ceded the floor to the singer, and multi-instrumentalist Kanene Pipkin for “Cost of Living” another soulful new tune that the band lent some extra oomph as Pipkin brought a depth and power to her performance that far exceeded its studio version. Likewise, “Unicorn” makes for a cute number on the album but became something much grander on stage, owing largely to Brian Elmquist’s elegant guitar sweeps and a soaring trumpet solo from multi-instrumentalist Tyler James, a new and welcome addition to the Lone Bellow fold.

From beginning to end it really felt like the band was firing on all cylinders, giving the songs space to breathe while still ramping up the energy and letting the emotional moments hit with as much impact as possible. On the mournful “Martingales”, off 2020’s Half Moon Light, they laid down a bed of shimmering guitar and piano before the trio’s voices came together in tear-jerking harmony on the chorus, while Pipkin led the band through a ferocious take on “Just Enough to Get By”, and a standout rendition of “Honey” burned like the best Springsteen anthems as a disco ball lit up the venue from above. A special shoutout should be given as well to drummer Julian Dorio, who’s been touring with the band for a few years now but seemed to have reached a new level of comfort with the material and elevated each performance with a jolt of personality and style behind the kit. 

For as good as the newer material sounded, the songs from their 2013 debut have grown over the last decade into veritable classics. The crowd knows every word – every beat – to those ones, and they know they’re more than welcome to sing along, a dynamic that led to stellar renditions of “You Never Need Nobody” and “Bleeding Out”. “We played this song in New York City for two and half years straight before anybody else heard it,” Williams said of the former, before turning in a particularly loose and playful vocal performance. On “Green Eyes and a Heart of Gold”, the band shook the dust off their once-signature song for one of their most invigorating performances of the tune in years, with Dorio’s drums sending them charging forward to a thrilling conclusion. Those songs are still carried by the ineffable magic that made The Lone Bellow stand out from the rest of the indie-folk crop all those years ago and they still perform them like their life depends on it, albeit maybe a little more freely now.

Before closing things out the band graciously turned over the stage to their opening act, New York-based trio BAILEN, who circled around a single mic to perform their Fleet Foxes-esque tune “25 For The Last Time” before handing things back over to The Lone Bellow for a run of songs that ended with a rousing performance of “Count On Me”. Returning again for their encore they too circled around that mic and delivered a spellbinding stripped-back version of “May You Be Well”, with Williams channeling a bit of John Prine (whose influence he’d cited earlier when introducing “Homesick”) in his speak-singing delivery while Pipkin and Elmquist’s voices backed him up with some chills-inducing harmonies.

They finally wrapped things up with “Tree to Grow”, Williams’ finger-picked acoustic and Pipkin’s mandolin gently floating their way into the song’s opening melody and building up the whole way through until exploding into a triumphant groove in the song’s climax. As the band dropped out the audience continued singing the final lines, with Williams gradually conducting them to a close. 

As the cheers died down and the lights came up, the band removed their instruments and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” started playing over the speakers. Williams was quickly on the venue floor and soon joined by bandmates, family, friends, and fans for an impromptu dance party, perhaps the most perfect encapsulation of the kinds of shows The Lone Bellow put on, and the energy they cultivate. 

The Lone Bellow Setlist Webster Hall, New York, NY, USA 2022, Love Songs For Losers
 

Related Content

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter