Lumineers deliver dazzling showcase

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This article was published 10/08/2022 (1510 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There are some who dream of the Lumineers one day appearing at the Winnipeg Folk Festival.

It’s pure fantasy, and Wednesday night’s dazzling showcase for the Denver indie-folk group at Canada Life Centre proved that a hockey arena, not an idyllic park setting with chilled-out hippies, is where the Lumineers should be properly enjoyed.

Those fantasies officially vaporized the moment after a curtain with the Lumineers’ logo was raised at the downtown arena, revealing a video screen shaped like a neon flower that showed cityscapes, old home movies, spooky skies and when necessary, Lumineers’ singer Wesley Schultz.

Seconds later Schultz and multi-instrumentalist Jeremiah Fraites emerged to launch the concert into orbit by performing Brightside.

It’s the title track to their 2021 album, and it put the crowd of 8,700 on notice that these folkies can shift into an arena-rock gear to fit their surroundings.

Brightside, and another new song played early on A.M. Radio also proved the Lumineers have staying power.

Schultz’s vocals makes A.M. Radio, with it’s oft-repeated line “I couldn’t give you up,” stick in fan’s minds as easily as the band’s early hits, such as Cleopatra and the ultra-catchy Ho Hey, which is such a great singalong for the crowd that the Lumineers hardly need to sing it, the crowd will do their job for them.

The stage was an innovative one, with a triangular catwalk creating two mosh pits and various ways for the Lumineers to arrange themselves, especially for Fraites, who on one song was behind a full kit at one part of the catwalk while in another, he’s playing a mandolin and interacting with Schultz and four musicians that added to the Lumineers’ sound.

Just before press time, Schultz introduced another new track, Where We Are, with a low-key sermon, saying the world will eventually rise from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic. He went on to sing the song, which has a mantra-like chorus, “I don’t know where we are, where we are, but we will be OK.”

In doing so, his voice soared well above the usual concert din to be heard loud and clear.

The main part of the Lumineers’ set wound up with Leader of the Landslide, which Schultz at one point squeezed in the chorus of You Can’t Always Get What You Want, the Rolling Stones’ classic.

The encore, which included large neon-lit Lumineers logos hanging above the stage included the Lumineers’ percussive Submarines and Stubborn Love, winding up an evening that mixed the thoughtful lyrics and idealism of folk music with rock ‘n’ roll glitz that so many in the genre have shunned or disdained.

Schultz and Fraites then left the stage, nearly two hours after they began, high-fiving fans to the strains of Procol Harum’s Whiter Shade of Pale, a ’60s classic that fits so well with the Lumineers’ vibe.

Being able to hear the singer’s voice is a key detail too many arena bands ought to heed, including the two other Colorado-based groups that opened the evening’s entertainment.

Gregory Alan Isakov’s crew made effective use of some dazzling lighting to create a dramatic presentation for the Americana artist, but it was a challenge to hear him over the bass, drums, guitar and violin of his band.

It wasn’t until the final song of his 45-minute set, All Shades of Blue, when the band crowded around his microphone like an old-school bluegrass band, did Isakov’s voice emerge. He could finally be heard, providing some musical steak to go along with the sizzle of the staging.

Another Colorado folk singer, Daniel Rodriguez, kicked off the evening with a chill 30-minute set, and he was at his best when his three-piece backing band didn’t overpower his soft vocals.

Songs such as Sojourns of a Burning Sun, the title track of his 2020 debut album, and This is Life, which Rodriguez and the Lumineers turned into a Christmas song late last year, were highlights.

Alan.Small@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @AlanDSmall