Show Review: Lord Huron @ Stubb’s (10/3)

Ryan and Nathan gave Lord Huron an atta-boy during SxSW 2011. Tough choice for the photo-guy, Menomena or Lord Huron? Well, I hadn’t seen Lord Huron yet, so I jumped at that show to enjoy a relaxing evening at Stubb’s Jr (that’d be the inside stage).

This was the second night of their tour after an opening night in Denton supporting the pending release Lonesome Dreams, due next week. Night Moves will be opening for this stretch on the road, a nice add for a solid bill with just enough contrast in styles to make sure you had a little something for everyone.

Read on for a few more show notes and plenty of pics.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting a giant crowd, but it got packed. It had to be close to sold out; you can tell when you can’t get to the stairs and the only soft spot in the room is in front of the bar. Thanks to resident sound/light guy; he let me pull up a little fill light and did a great job of dealing with both bands’ sound.

Night Moves, kind of indie funk. I would put them on a bill with Dent May in a heartbeat. Ballads, jams, a little bit of nostalgia and plenty of fun on stage while playing, though they admitted to a BBQ induced food coma that only showed up between songs. The only question mark I had was the heavily tracked percussion, each song’s kickoff taking a bit of time to sort and then launch on the MacBook. They played all the songs they had and left the crowd wanting more. We’ll have to wait for more manic stories from the road to few new tracks before they expand the set (cryptic description of sleeping with the Denton show’s promoter, a dude, was a good start).

Lord Huron meandered on stage and started straight in with the harmonies. Maybe it was the earplugs, but there were very few people talking at this show. Are we winning?

Melodies, harmonies, outstanding percussion work; Benji Schneider has surrounded himself with a great touring band. The show goes from indie-folk to calypso dance party and you just can’t help but have a good time. The strongest stretch in the show was the middle bit that featured several tracks from the new record. I don’t really know what else to say, but if you get a chance to see them while they head up the East Coast before crossing the country towards a home show in LA at the Echo, do it.

More pics at the photo site…