Show Pics: Dan Mangan and Blind Pilot @ The Parish

Dan Mangan opened for Blind Pilot. This is a great pairing which caused a packed-house sell-out. There were a few sing-alongs to go along with all of the great music. I was on hand to get some photos of the show and because both bands are full of musicians that take their performance seriously, I left a fan of both bands. It doesn’t hurt that the show was perfectly paired with its venue, The Parish.

So more on the show and plenty of images after the break…

Dan Mangan is currently touring with his band in support of his latest Oh Fortune, title tack available for download for the price of an email. He has a gravelly snarl to his voice live that lends strength to his thoughtful lyrics and by surrounding himself with great musicians, their well-crafted songs that bounce from Americana to European folk to indie. I would love to see him sandwiched between Head and the Heart and Beirut.

The title cut to the latest release was brilliant as was “About As Helpful As You Can Be Without Being Any Help At All”. Other set highlights included “Sold” and “Basket” from last year’s Nice, Nice, Very Nice. The closer, also from NNVN was “Robots” where Dan encouraged crowd participation, leaving the stage to closer to fans up front, “Robots need love to.”

Honestly, it would be tough to have someone like Mangan as an opener. It will challenge your performance every night. Blind Pilot seems to want the challenge, because as good as Mangan’s crew is musically, Blind Pilot are as good or better. They are not on the edge. No, they are putting together great music, a soundtrack for a Sunday perhaps. Israel Nebeker leads the band that delivers pretty and pleasing songs.

The performance was dialed. Ryan Dobrowski leads from behind with precision on percussion. The band harmonizes brilliantly. They take turns on different instruments. All put together, it is thoughtful, if that makes sense.

The set list was sixteen songs long with a two song encore. “Get You Right” from the latest, We Are The Tide lead off, oddly called “Keep You Right” on the set list I saw. Also form the latest, “Always” was a very enjoyable three minutes and the tite track finished the regular set. From the previous album 3 Rounds And A Sound, “Oviedo” and “I Buried A Bone” worked for me, the latter’s quick horn segments adding brightness. The Encore split albums with “Get It Out” and “3 Rounds And A Sound”.

Compliments to The Parish, lighting was outstanding. Also had a chat with the gentleman in charge of booking, expect more shows coming through town to take advantage of the best lights and sound east of Congress…

More pics available over at the photo site…