Live! Blind Pilot & Avett Brothers @ Outside Lands

Reviews by Annie Wright

Blind Pilot

When I listen to an album over and over again and fall in love with it, I always get a little nervous before I see the band for the first time live. My expectations are set so high, that I don’t want to be disappointed. Fortunately for me and the rest of those who caught their set, Blind Pilot’s performance on Friday afternoon of Outside Lands was beautiful.  Playing for a crowd singing along to songs from the band’s debut album 3 Rounds and a Sound, Portland Oregon natives Ryan Dobrowski and Israel Nebeker quickly won over any festival go-er who happened upon their show.

The pair’s minimalist folk-pop style resonated well with the festival vibe set amongst the trees in Golden Gate Park.  The bands sound revolves around simple acoustic guitar, sparse drumming and captivating vocals. Their humble and intimate performance, led the boy boyish charm of front man Isreal Nebeker, was a highlight of the day. My personal favorite of the show was their performance of the title track from their album. The song 3 Rounds and a Sound is an honest love song that had every girl in the audience thinking (or wishing) that Nebeker was singing just for her.

Fortunately for Bay Area fans, the duo don’t harbor any hard feelings again San Francisco for past misfortunate in the city. On one of the bands two bike tours down the West Coast, scheduled to run from Vancouver down to the Mexican border, the trip was cut short in San Francisco when band’s bikes were sadly stolen outside San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art.

For upcoming tour dates and tickets, track Blind Pilot on Bandsintown, where you can aso a real time Blind Pilot concert stream and find other fans of Blind Pilot in your area.

The Avett Brothers

Brothers Seth and Scott Avett have created a mix of folk, rock, country and bluegrass combined with story telling lyrics that is uniquely their own. Their band, the Avett Brothers is comprised of the two brothers, Bob Crawford on the stand-up bass and cellist Joe Kwo who often joins them on tour.

The brothers lived up to their raucous live show reputation Sunday at Outside Lands as they took over the Sutro stage mid afternoon. This was another highly anticipated show for me at the festival. After watching their set from this year’s SXSW, I have been eager to see them live. While I love listening to their albums, I have been left with the feeling that the recordings are not doing the band justice and that they are holding back that special something that only a live show will have. Sunday’s performance proved just that, as the band held nothing back as they played their (too short) 40 minute set of songs from their albums Emotionalism (2007), The Second Gleam (2008) and the recently released I and Love and You. With Scott Avett running back and forth from the drums to the banjo and the cowboy boot stomping, hair swinging jamming of the bass and cello players, you could feel the energy on the stage and watch it catch like wildfire in the crowd.

My favorite song of the set was the ballad “Murder in the City” sung alone by the two brothers on the stage. Looking out over the foggy city and sharing a touching song, with the captivating lyrics “always remember there was nothing worth sharing / like the love that let us share our name”, it was a special moment for the afternoon.

The Avett Brothers are currenty on tour, concert info and tickets can be found on their Bandsintown page.