Although based in New York City, the band Big Thief has pretty strong ties to Boston. Adrienne Lenker and Buck Meek met at a house show in Jamaica Plain, Boston (she claimed he wouldn’t let her borrow his guitar, Meek pled innocent to those charges) and they would later meet while at Berklee College of Music, along with the other two. Bass player Max Oleartchik left the band last year, but they haven’t lost a step with Joshua Crumbly filling in for touring duties, brandishing the instrument made famous by Macca.
Nearly a decade into their career, the band showed their love for Boston by playing what might be their longest concert to date, spanning 22 songs and over two hours. But even with their Berklee training, Lenker played a chord during “Mythological Beauty,” made a face and stopped, wondering what that chord that was.
She did this again later in the set, claiming that her hand was inhabited by a spirit that wanted to play really weird chords. “It goes to Berklee,” quipped Meek. The band was not overly arch in their delivery and didn’t do much motion on stage, setting up pretty close to each other amidst the large MGM stage. The extremely packed room hung on every note, and the band sprinkled a couple of yet-to-be-released songs in the set as treats as well as songs from Meek and Lenker’s solo records, coming on strong at the end with big fan favorites like “Masterpiece” from their debut and “Vampire Empire,” arguably their most popular track. I’m sure people would have been fine had the band skipped it, but it’s always nice to hear a song you expect to hear.
Lomelda (aka the stage name of Hannah Read) had opening duties and many different tones in their band’s palette. A violin and a shruti box? Sign me up.
