Recap from The Egg in Albany, NY

A couple of weekends ago, we were on the road again to see The Lone Bellow in Albany, NY, at The Egg. The Egg is a very odd looking building, but the theater was small, intimate, and had really nice sound.

The band started the show in a way we’ve never seen before.  Only Zach, Kanene, and Brian came out on the stage to start the show. They played quiet versions of “I Let You Go,” “Jessica,” and “You Can Be All Kinds of Emotional.” I have to confess, I am sometimes nervous about the crowds at venues that have memberships. I’ve been to shows in such places where much of the crowd is made up of members who aren’t really familiar with the music, and it can sometimes sap the energy from the show. I thought it was brave of The Lone Bellow to start their show in such a subdued way at The Egg rather than with a high energy song that would immediately grab the crowd.  But the audience turned out to be awesome, whether they knew the music or not, and really into the intimacy of the music.

During “Jessica,” Brian came in on a verse too early, and the band just joked and laughed it off,  then kept going, showing yet again how fun and easy going they are. Have we said enough times how much we love them for that?

Jason and Justin brought the energy when they came on stage and the band played “Cold As It Is” and “Then Came the Morning.”  They played through their set list for that night, keeping the audience enraptured with the music, interspersed with some of the “talking” moments that we love so much.

It turns out Justin’s mom was in the audience, and Zach commended her on the shirt she bought for Justin, which he was wearing for the show, saying it looked good.  After Zach introduced the rest of the band, Kanene indicated that Zach needed an introduction, too, which resulted in each band member stating one fact about Zach. Brian mentioned that he has three beautiful daughters, Justin shared that he has more clothes than anyone else in the band, to which Jason added that Zach’s mom also buys his shirts. Kanene finished off by mentioning that Zach is a cat person, which he vehemently denied. “I don’t have anything against cat people,” he said, “they just kind of freak me out.” When we were chatting with the band after the show, Zach defended his “assault” on cat people by telling us he’s had two cats. When Abra joked that I have 8 cats, Zach said uncertainly, “That’s not true…” Ha! (I only have two…)

Zach also mused about life on the road, and the relationships with bandmates. Touring with a band, he said, is like “that uncle you see at Thanksgiving. Keep him away from the kids and hide the Jim Beam!” To which Kanene asked, “Who is the uncle in this scenario?” Everyone, even Zach, agreed that he is the uncle. “You’re Uncle Dale!” Brian said.

One of the best moments came when Zach announced that Brian’s wife is due with a baby boy! We are so excited for them! She is due in November, and apparently Brian thought the sonogram looked like a "rat heart.” Hmmmm...

And as if the band hadn’t already created an amazing connection with the audience, they only made it stronger when they unplugged and came out into the audience to perform “Watch Over Us.” It was a beautiful moment.

They finished up the main part of the set with “The One You Should’ve Let Go,” and left the stage, but the audience wanted more! They came back on stage and ended the show with Kanene’s always incredible rendition of “Slip Sliding Away.”

It was a lovely night of music, spent among a lovely audience.

This review by Brian Lasky has some beautiful photographs if you would like to see more from that evening.