...you almost missed it again, because YouTube took down the clip of the Avett Brothers on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." But then someone put it back up (kudos to the kind YouTube users who come through in moments such as these). So it's back here on the blog. Get it while it's hot.
I think the boys did a bang-up job on the show and likely brought a few more onto the Avett bandwagon. And, hey, guess what? There's still room on the bandwagon, even after this weekend's shows. All you have to do is buy the new Avett Brothers CD, "Emotionalism," which heads out into the world on Tuesday. I was lucky enough to find a copy a few weeks ago, so I can tell you that it's a damn fine CD--maybe not my favorite, but definitely one of the more consistent and cohesive selections in the Avett catalog. Like any good record, it's full of little touches that add up to something memorably powerful. Or powerfully memorable. Or some other phrase that means really good.
There's the fiddle (courtesy of BR549's Donnie Herron) that weaves in and out of my current favorite Avett song, "Go To Sleep." There's that little burst of strings in "Will You Return?" There's the piano on "Salina." And a lot more, all cleanly (but not antiseptically) produced and just consistently good. It's likely their mellowest CD yet, but it's not boring by any means. At least not to me. And I'm the one with the blog, so let's call me the authority here, OK?
Saturday's show at the FNYaIP (man, I love writing that) was up there among the best of the two dozen or so Avett shows I've seen and, like their last show at the Bowery Ballroom, it was capped off by a Scott Avett stagedive, this time during "Talk on Indolence." It was funny to think that only a little over two years ago, I saw the Avett Brothers at the Goldhawk in Hoboken, a show in which a stagedive would have been both inappropriate and horribly tragic. It's nice to see a band go from playing to seven people to, I don't know, maybe a thousand in a relatively short amount of time. And I'm not gonna be one of those people who gets all territorial as the Avetts get bigger. Enjoy 'em, world.
And though New York was clearly enjoying the Avetts more than the smaller Friday night Philly crowd, there were some fans at the Trocadero who were having a pretty good time. I am thinking most of the gentleman in front of me who would occasionally break out into dances that would have been more appropriate at, say, a 1985 Duran Duran concert. But the important thing was he was having a helluva time. Well, actually, the most important thing is that when he was swinging his arms over his head, he didn't hit either me or my friends. But it was also cool that he was digging the Avetts. And what's not to dig? Even though the show got off to a rocky start and there were sound problems throughout the night (likely due to a lack of a soundcheck because of the Conan taping), [flipping through Book of Review Cliches] when the smoke cleared, the Avetts came out on top.
Of the two shows, New York was the runaway winner. And here is where a lesser writer would write "But the real winners were the fans." I won't do that, dear reader. But I will say that the Avett Brothers are the current kings of the Tinsel and Rot musical kingdom. I know, I know, you're thinking back to those Huey Lewis and Weird Al posts. Fair enough. But, really, the Avett Brothers are damn good, and I've got a feeling that a lot of people in Philly and New York will testify to that. Next time they come around, make sure you're there.
And buy that CD, OK?
(Above: A very poor-quality photo taken from the FNYaIP balcony during "Go To Sleep")
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