The Avett Brothers Live at Meadowbrook NH

Having discovered The Avett Brothers last spring I have the love of a convert. The music is strong, the energy is amazing so my wife and I were very much looking forward to seeing them last weekend.

Making a day of it we drove down leaving Sunday around eleven. The drive was nice, the day was nice and when we got to Dover where we stayed we went to my Papa Geno's. Anyone who knows me knows that I always bemoan how there is no Papa Geno's in Maine. The steak and cheese there is always head and shoulders above any others I get. Of course a couple hours later I was sick, but most anything makes me sick and this tasted very good.

Arriving at the concert venue I found that handicap parking is VIP which I never realized but was a blessing for me to not have to walk through a large parking lot and be sore before we even got there.

The venue is wonderful. About 3000 seats, that may be off a bit as I am not a good estimator, all covered with open sides. We had great seats, fifteen rows back but the overall venue itself was very nice and comfortable.

Nicole Adkins opened and did a good job. Her voice is strong, I am not sure that I thought she was notable but a few of the songs were easy to enjoy such as Maybe Tonight. Her guitar player, I believed named Elena, was very strong. Not often you see the guitar player rocking a solo wearing a tight fusia dress. The highlight of her set was when, acknowledging the twentieth anniversary of Nevermind she performed the Leadbelly song " Where did you sleep last night. " She could not quite scream in a throat shred like Kurt Cobain but she did a good job and clearly has a voice that can sing anything.

The Avett Brothers are hard to describe musically. Viola's, kick drums, guitars, banjo's and more are part of the sound. They are excellent, versatile musicians but are even more showmen. They are all over the stage racing around with such abandon that at times you worry for their safety. The Avett;s have such a huge catalogue that at every show some songs that you wish for will not be played.


In this show they opened with Tin Man and played with abandon for two hours. January Wedding, When I Drink, Head Full of Doubt and Murder in the City were a strong run early in the set coming on the heels of the special Blue Ridge Mountain Blues one of the nods to roots music that the Avett's always include.

Kick Drum Heart and I and Love and You staples of the live shows were done well and a special highlight was a version of Just a Closer Walk With Thee. Clearly hillbilly gospel has a part in the origin of this music.

The crowd was involved, I noticed some college kids around me knowing the words of each song and, in fact, knowing all of the little asides and responses to certain parts of the songs. This feeds the energy which is a large part of an Avett performance. The band played an encore of I Would Be Sad and Slight Figure of Speech but the crowd did not settle. In fact the people to the left of us were frustrated as the crowd was not moving. I myself thought they would not be back, but after five minutes of screaming they did return for another couple songs which were Shame and Colorshow with the ending refrain of " I'm Done." At some point they had to be but clearly this a band you see each time you can,

Great performers. Great show. The best of the year and a great way to end my concert year.