A Philosophical Review - Boston Pavilion 9/16/2012

After listening to The Carpenter for a couple of weeks straight, I went back to my All Avett All the Time playlist, which is almost all from the studio albums, and Colorshow came up, which I hadn't heard in a while.  With fresh ears, the full band sound of the song really struck me.  It's got everything the current live lineup has: piano, drums, electric guitar. These guys haven't changed over the years; their live show capabilities have just expanded to include all the instruments and sounds they've always wanted to do.  In years past, Colorshow was played with just the three acoustic instruments because that was all they had, and it was awesome.  Now, the stage is getting crowded with people (not Typhoon-like crowded, but they're getting there) and they can make all this noise that they've had in them with no way to express at a show.  Now they can.

Sunday night at the Boston Pavilion this newfound ability was in full force.  With Bob back in the rotation most of the time (yay! for so many reasons!) they can have Paul on keys and front six musicians, and holy cow what a sound.  All those elements that they threw into their albums but could never do live, all that almost metal sound, the screaming electric guitar and pounding bass; these boys rocked. Which worked really well within the pretty large pavilion.  It takes a lot of sound to fill that space.  And as I was listening, I wasn't sure how the "old" Avetts would have done in that space.  They were as loud as they could be with just the upright, banjo and guitar, but with this new arsenal they can so easily project their sound to thousands of people, with serious impact.  Their acoustic show worked really well in the smaller venues because the audience was right there, with all the energy within arm's reach.  Now people are watching from 200' or more feet away and it's harder to connect.  I really noticed it during the quieter songs; the sound was clearly coming from a smaller place right in front, while the electric songs were all encompassing.  Having been up front so many times, I didn't notice that difference as much, but it was readily apparent halfway back in the arena.  Trio songs like Paranoia and Shame were good and loud, of course, but songs like Head Full of Doubt and Paul Newman were really good with the expanded lineup, with The Fall being my favorite old song with the new twist.

The "special mic" songs seemed most difficult to translate to the larger space.  It forces people pay attention (and make the drunk obnoxious ones even more noticeable), and the strength of the songs was as apparent even though I was so far away, but it was clear that all the sound was coming from a small point on stage, and the echoey nature of the pavilion swallowed everything up.  As you can see in the top picture, tiny Scott was lost in the immensity, and he sounded as far away as he looks.  Which is the nature of that type of mic; it's not designed to be sung into from an inch away, but is more of an ambient mic.  But the contrast with the electric tunes was stark. 

Regardless of sound and song, I had a fantastic time.  I didn't see Cedar Lane for the first time in I think two years, and I kind of missed it, but the song selection was good, with a couple of tasty choices (Weight of Lies and especially If it's the Beaches) and the pleasure of hearing some of the new songs.  G. Love was a surprise.  I don't know when they rehearsed, but it wasn't at soundcheck.  They sounded really good and were clearly were having fun, as was I.

Paranoia
Will you return
And it spread
Eleanor
Colorshow
Weight of Lies
Distraction #74
Live and Die
February 7
Salina
January Wedding
Go To sleep
Down with the shine
Love like the movies
When I drink
Sanguine
Laundry room
Old Joe Clark
Paul Newman vs the Demons
Murder in the City
The Fall with g love
Milk and Sugar with g love
Shame
Kick drum
I and Love and You

Encore:
If It's the Beaches
Head Full of Doubt
Talk on Indolence