edpaffjr.comA couple of weeks ago I ventured out to my first concert at a bar in months. It takes a good excuse to get me out of the house for a late night show, especially during the work week. Fortunately I had a great excuse. The Lone Bellow had been on my radar since I got my hands on their self-titled debut album a couple of months ago, and they were playing a free show at Mayday in Northside.
The Lone Bellow
This was my first time at Mayday, but I really liked the venue for the most part. It is pretty small and was the perfect setting for the 100 or so people in the audience for this show. Nearly everyone in attendance was quiet and attentive for the majority of the show, which is always nice to see.
The Lone Bellow took the stage around 11:30 and opened with arguably their best hit, “You Never Need Nobody,” which combines amazing vocal harmonies with soaring leads from Zach Williams. After just a couple of seconds of this song, I was hooked, and I bet the same could be true for many others. Take a listen to the track below.
With just one album of material, it would be hard for the band to play much more than the 45 minute set that I heard, but I definitely wanted to hear more. The Tiny Desk Concert below was very similar to what I experienced, but there were a few more touring members of the band on stage to fill the lower registers.
There were three other bands on the bill, two before The Lone Bellow and one after. I missed all the previous bands but did stick around to hear Ivan & Aloysha, a folk-pop, indie, rock band from Seattle, Washington. They were more rock than The Lone Bellow, but still had many similar elements including great vocal harmonies and even some sweet melodies.
As this was the last show of the tour, members of all bands joined in for the last song of the night. There were little sombreros for those on stage and at the end a piñata was brought out, which eventually spewed candy onto the venue floor for the enjoyment of everyone in attendance.
Tour Closer
Piñata Time
