A cold, rainy evening was no match for Chicago’s warm-hearted cheers for Elephant Revival, who were playing the last show of their spring tour at Concord Music Hall for their last show of the tour last night. The five-piece band’s magical harmonies filled the venue with great music.
The extended set of the night featured several guest appearances from the openers, Dead Horses and Old Shoe, as well as Chicago natives sitting on percussion, Bonnie Paine’s cousin on vocals, and even their tour bus driver! With everyone in tow, the band broke out into a cover of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit.”
The first third of the set featured Elephant Revival’s familiar transcendental folk tunes, such as the song “Birds and Stars,” which holds soft sounds, emotional lyrics, and perfectly timed peaks. The band also expanded their repertoire by playing new songs like “Fall Again,” featured on the group’s recently-released album, Petals. Listen here.
In the second section of music, the crowd was treated to an unique a cappella movement by the quintet, which required audience silence, and which featured numerous sit-ins on new Petals songs. The screams and love from the crowd made the band bashful and thankful for the recognition.
The last third, was a well deserved encore with Bonnie Paine on cello as a lead, while the other band members slowly entered the stage to slowly join her. Fiddler Bridget Law described their next new song as a representation of a monarch butterfly swooping through the air, or acrobats soaring from trapeze to trapeze. The night was concluded with a classic number, “Grace of a Woman,” which was screamed out as a request earlier in the evening by a fan and the crowd unified to sing-a-long.
What a night from Elephant Revival! Check out photos from the show below, courtesy of Tara Gracer:
