Sunday night rocked.
While the first night of the week is classically reserved for catching up on homework assignments and observing NFL games, this Sunday, Sept. 24, ushered the week in with a hollering of indie rock.
Band of Horses, who’ve been on the circuit since the early 2000s, took the Druid City Music Hall stage on Sunday night for a couple hours of, for lack of more suitable phrasing, impeccable rock ‘n’ roll.
Listening to Band of Horses in the car or through your headphones ranges from a folksy mellow to thick rock on a scale of sounds. Seeing them live is a similar experience, yet it feels entirely more expansive. They can crank out even their most quiet and subtle songs like headbangers.
Druid City Music Hall, a venue that packs in just under 700 concertgoers, felt like an amphitheater or concert hall three times its size once Band of Horses started their set. In the past, the experienced rockers have easily filled much larger and well-known spaces such as Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado, The Greek in Los Angeles and the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, yet they flawlessly and humbly took to the Strip’s resident stage. Thirteen years since the band’s inception, lead singer Ben Bridwell said it was time for a change of pace with their current tour.
“We can’t afford to sit around with this many babies to feed!” Bridwell said. “But really though, we were due for this kinda tour. Something fun and different from the usual population centers. We’ve earned the opportunity to get rowdy and with football season at fever pitch in most of these towns, we can all get buck wild.”
The band is making stops in several SEC towns: Oxford, Miss., Baton Rouge, La., and Fayetteville, Ark. While college students are sure to flock, Band of Horses’ Tuscaloosa show was filled to the brim with rabid fans from all over the region, with only a few university students peppered in here and there. This audience brought a whole new level of fervent fandom to Druid City Music Hall.
Formed in Seattle in 2004, the band has an undeniably northwestern sound and feel. Their too-loud-to-be-soft rock and hearty guitar riffs were standouts in our Alabama atmosphere. Fans lost it when they played “Casual Party” from their most recent record “Why Are You OK.” Then came their biggest hit, a smacker at over 135 million streams on Spotify, “The Funeral.” While Bridwell isn’t quite sure if that constitutes a classic, “The Funeral” sure feels like one.
“All I know is that it was a challenge to record and has always been a challenge to perform,” Bridwell said. “There’s a cool balance in that ‘it don’t come easy.'”
Druid City pulled out all the stops for this show with supplemental lighting that lit the stage in a prismatic illumination. But Band of Horses didn’t really need anything extra – they’re playing smaller venues these days, but that doesn’t affect their ability to bring the house down.
“Doesn’t matter a lick!” Bridwell said. “It might be a damn corporate party on the worst sound equipment in the game. You never know when the roof is begging to blow.”
