Thonk thonk thonk, is this thing on? I’m Walt. I have been a dancer and photographer for years, and at the age of 38 I have decided to add writer to the list. Bear with me here. If you want to know more about me, there might be a bio… somewhere. Thanks, Emperor for the opportunity (*Emperor’s note: Welcome to the team). Ok, here goes.
It’s a Wednesday night in August in Bend, Oregon and if you know you know.
If you don’t, I guess I’ll explain. Bend is a gorgeous place surrounded by mountains, rivers, and all the outdoor “Mecca” bullshit that you’d want if you are into that, and the temperature is 80-something with a breeze blowing off the river. Our big concert venue is outside and alongside a river. So, in general, a Wednesday night during the summer in Bend is a perfect time and place for an outdoor show.
Hayden Home Amphitheater is set in the heart of The Old Mill district and tonight there is a potent energy about. The surrounding areas are teeming with folks ranging from elementary school kids to…Grandpa is that you? Each dressed in their best folk-rock outfits and the air is electric with anticipation.
Me? I’m standing in the will call line – with my wife, all dolled up and looking stunningly cute (as usual) who is also buzzing with excitement – sweating in my LA Kings T-shirt with a backpack full of gear.
The night is featuring a double bill of Tom Odell and the always revered Lumineers, what I don’t know yet is tonight is going to send me into a journey of shared humanity, breathtaking intimacy, and explosive singalongs. I was surprised that I knew the words to more songs than i thought.
Starting with London’s Tom Odell, he and his band take the stage in an understated fashion with limited room on stage. You can see that the Lumineers set going to be epic and despite that, Tom and his band of brothers command their spot and rightful place to be there.
I’m telling you this right off the rip , I WILL be making my way to a Tom Odell headlining tour when it comes around. By the time his second song “Ugly” comes around I am having a hard time focusing on the task at hand. Tom’s band is riddled with amazing musicians, and it’s all topped by the most raw and powerful instrument on stage – Tom’s voice!
The harmonization is on par with and rivaling some of Motown’s greats (hopefully you know what I mean, and if you don’t go, culture yourself I guess). To top it off, at the end of such an incredible song about the human experience, Tom steals the air in the venue and silences the crowd with an impossibly long perfectly pitched note. I’m fucking floored, I’ve heard the song(s) before but, presented like this it is on another level.
Though the set was only six songs long, the journey was magical.
From falling in love with someone that won’t love you back and hearing the ethereal pain in his voice to gasping for air at his honed falsetto, I’m hooked on Tom Odell Live and it’s only the fourth song, I still have two more left and they are his most popular two. The set hits its stride with Black Friday. Actually, I’m going to stop writing for a minute and listen to it and you should too. (Check out the “Mahogany sessions” version.)
Finish reading this section while you listen and you’ll understand. You know, just go back and reread the Tom Odell section while listening, go ahead, I know you skimmed it anyway. The song is very early R.E.M reminiscent (*Emperor’s note: REMiniscent, noice), Radiohead “Creep” goes acoustic type of thing. It’s a goosebump inducing build and crescendo mixed with the completely infatuated nature of the song will draw you in and shake you to your core.
If you don’t feel anything while listening to this, I’m pretty sure you are a fucking robot, we should put a reCaptcha below to catch your ass! As the crowd gathers themselves out of the spell that Tom has put them in, the band breaks into band introductions and a slamming jam and a violin solo that puts the cherry on top. I’m a sucker for string instruments and this solo was only helping my case.
One song left and it’s a doozy. “Another Love” is a love song for people that understand what it feels like to struggle with moving on. After Tom and the crowd sing the words of the calm before the storm, the bass drum kicks in and leads the charge through the thumping and upbeat feel of the song, his voice tells the real story. As the song comes to a close, Tom thanks everyone, band included, for making the evening an amazing one and tips the cap to Oregon’s beauty and expresses his fondness of the area…me too, Tom. Me too! Fuck Yeah!
With my skin still tingling and a belly full of musubi, I made my way to the would-be photo pit as the aforementioned epic staging was being uncovered. Platforms, lighting, LED screens hanging AND MOVING, and weapons of musical destruction were being revealed. After hearing literally eight times over the last two days, the reason people said, “You have to see them live, it’s a helluva show” hit me.
I was waiting with that nervous energy you get right before a show. Not to mention I had the images in my head and Racket’s Emperor eagerly awaiting this stunning masterpiece of novice writing (*Emperor’s note: I was catching up on Wednesday while Walt was doing this). It was game time…err SHOW TIME!! At the slightest peek of members of the Lumineers hitting the stage, the crowd burst with cheers and with the first stroke of the keys, strum and word uttered, The Lumineers immediately affirmed a well-known truth: They Are A Band That Must Be Seen LIVE!
Energy – infectious
Percussion – pounding
Chemistry – palpable.
This band is so well rehearsed, and impeccably put together. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised (I read the previous Lumineers review from the Emperor CLICK HERE to read) but when the whirling tornado of energy of a man Stelth Ulvang leaped, I’m fucking serious the man LEAPED onto his piano and galvanized the crowd into doing literally anything he wanted them to do, I was sold.
As if that was not enough, when my last song in the pit was coming to a close, I raised my camera for the last few remaining clicks of this already unforgettable evening donned in his quintessential suspenders, white shirt and pinched front hat Jeremiah looks into my lens (and my soul i think) with an all knowing nod of acknowledgment and smiles.
CHILLS; but I play it cool as I shoot him a nod back and a thumbs up in appreciation. I will be seeing The Lumineers in concert when the buses come through. You can bet on that. You can truly see their hearts pouring into each other on stage, at one moment there is the standard back to back “rocking” or in this case “pop-folking.” I don’t know? ANYWAY there are the typical things where band members feed off each other to amp the energy.
Well in this case each and every member of this group either played catch with an instrument that can be thrown and there was even some throwing of things that shouldn’t be considered throwing. But they masterfully pulled it off. It all culminated with a head to shoulder moment between Jeremiah Fraites and Wesley Schultz as the last strum of “You’re All I Got” rang out.
Frontman Schultz spoke words so profound to me in that moment that i had to just absorb them, after exclaiming that he and Jeremiah have been making music for 20 years he says “You need someone else to do something bigger than yourself.” That’s the essence of this group and their passions for the music and each is on full display. The short lived tender moment is broken with a toast to all the “Assholes” followed by their song of the same name and the good times rolled!
The night continues to progress into heart stopping lyrics and cheerful melodies including but not limited to front to back crowd involvement and shouting the lyrics. But believe it when i tell you, There is no sing-a-long like a “Ho Hey” sing-a-long. Eruptions of the chorus and the beautifully pitched harmony of each murmured word from each being in attendance. It is something to witness indeed. Funny enough Schultz laughingly shared that he feels honored people use it as a first dance song at weddings, admitting with a grin, “…but it’s a breakup song!”
After a good handful of crowd pleasers, an abundance of yelling, hooting, and hollering, a hush of silence, dark/dim stage lighting ,and fog-perpetuated ambiance is broken with an eerie violin solo…Tom Odell graces the piano platform and “Salt and the Sea” haunts the amphitheater. The vocal combination of Odell and Schultz sends a transcendent shiver into my spine and I’m locked in place. Luckily I’m not the only one as I glance around, my good friend Adena is practically melting. There is not a soul that isn’t enthralled by the moment.
The quiet ambiance was shattered by the explosive intro to “Where we Are,” as Fraites sparked a massive, side-to-side wave of hands. The fun continued with “Ophelia,” which kicked off a tambourine-tossing game between the band members, and “Big Parade,” where every member took a verse of call and response before freezing in a dramatic, minute-long pose. Let the good times roll, but only for a couple more songs.
There is something hanging in the ether with frontman Wesley, several glances starbound and multiple touches to the heart, it seems as if the emotional core of the evening was yet to be revealed. After a reverent cover of The Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” Wesley Schultz shared a stunningly vulnerable piece of news: his brother had passed away just recently.
The weight of that revelation hung in the air, re-framing the entire concert. The energy he was pouring out wasn’t just for entertainment; it was an escape, a catharsis, a way to process the unimaginable pain in a space held by thousands of supportive strangers. His rendition and dedication to Sam was held in the form of Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” and even without the story and forgive the blasphemy, it was better than the OG (sorry Billy).
It was imbued with a rawness so deep and tapped into a vulnerability so primal that it simply could not be unfelt. This gave way to an a cappella intro to “Cleopatra” which was sacred in nature. As the band collected at the front of the stage to perform “Stubborn Love,” leading a grand finale venue wide sing-a-long , Stelth wielding his guitar is not content to end it there and makes a mad dash into the crowd acting as the catalyst to a “Stomp and Holler” moshpit, the (first) most wholesome I’ve ever witnessed.
As the final note fades, the band embrace each other one by one and bow to the audience, putting the metaphorical chef’s kiss, maybe more like a goodnight kiss firmly on all of our metaphorical foreheads in an evening that was a shared experience of grief, joy, resilience and the unbreakable power of music.