45 minutes into The Lumineers’ set at Slim’s on Monday night, the trio walked off stage knowing they’d be coming right back. That’s because, even in the intimate venue, the cheers for an encore were near-deafening. Not that the band is any stranger to the attention. Just days before playing the KFOG Special Acoustic Performance, they were opening for U2 at the Rose Bowl in LA for more than 95,000 music lovers. Humbly, lead vocalist/guitarist Wesley Schultz conceded the horde wasn’t necessarily for them, but they hoped they had some converts – to which the amped Slim’s-crowd responded “yeah you did!”
Wesley, Jeremiah Fraites (drums), and Neyla Pekarek (cello, piano) took the stage Monday night for the slightly smaller, yet completely enthralled audience. The folk-Americana bandmates were treated more like rock stars, with shouts from women and men throughout the show and interviews (“we love you!”) flying ubiquitously. Every song was a hit, almost evenly split between tracks from their debut record The Lumineers and sophomore album Cleopatra, which just went No. 1 on Billboard 200 chart.
The Lumineers jumped into “Flowers in Your Hair”, “Ophelia”, “Cleopatra”, and “Ho Hey” – which, with the help of an audience sing-along, they didn’t even need to use microphones for. It was that kind of “we’ll make this show great together” feeling that held the night together, taking us through a lovely “Angela”, a rousing “Sleep on the Floor”, slow-building “Dead Sea”, and all the way to “Stubborn Love”. That’s when The Lumineers took it down a notch, only to bring it back up again until everyone in the room was shouting the lyrics at the top of their lungs in unison. Their encore “This Must Be The Place” brought it back to their first album and sent fans off feeling good, if not just wanting more.
During one part of his interview, KFOG host Rockwell thanked Wesley, Jeremiah and Neyla for playing “real instruments,” noting how refreshing it is in this day in age. Bu more than just what they were playing, it was with honest songwriting, open discourse with crowds (no matter the number), and genuine belief in what they’re doing that The Lumineers brought something real to their Special Acoustic Performance last night. Not bad for a Monday.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUcZefEADAr/
Photos by Grace Sager.