Coming from a city so known for its artistic integrity, the truly delightful and idiosyncratic Shook Twins show came as no surprise to their loyal fans. After a year of touring the country in every combination of headliner, support and festival performance, the band got to finish their touring year off with a warm and fuzzy love-fest with a packed hometown crowd at the Revolution Hall. Bringing the kinetic Rabbit Wilde to kick things off for them, the Shook Twins made sure no one left the show any less than jubilant.
After a brief but heartwarming welcome to their fans, sisters Katelyn and Laurie Shook started to weave their magic. Sharing a mix of their catalog along with a few sneak peeks from their forthcoming album. the band took their time to set the mood before taking the evening’s entertainment into full throttle. An exuberant “What We Do” showcased the band’s high energy, before they delved into “Leftovers,” a song penned by guitarist Niko Slice.
Slice seems to approach each song, each line, each note as a piece of art. His leads can be on the sparse side, letting notes ring out and fade and blend as they disperse. That soft yet supple style seems perfectly suited to match the harmonies of the titular twosome. The harmonies that the Shook Twins can produce are astounding, and the method in which they weave in and out between each other is as mesmerizing and complex.
An early guest appearance in the form of violinist Sophie Bloch Miller showed the welcoming nature of the band and took the song “Shake” in a lilting direction that added a new layer of beauty to an already excellent track. After one more song with the rest of the band, the stage was cleared of everyone but the sisters. There, a display of true harmony was convened. Operating on what must be a hard practiced ability to not only share the lead effortlessly, but to dip up and down the register for inflection and drama while the other voices holds the sonic line for fidelity’s sake.
Their amazing vocals are met with their skills on a variety of instruments, like the banjo and guitar, is impressive as well. The pair of songs they performed as a duo were by Joni Mitchell or Vance Bergeson, and the interplay between the two sisters made each song their own. As special as their duets were, they had nothing on the emotional tune that followed.
The band welcomed dear old friends Jena Bowers and Sonoma Jalof from one of the twin’s earlier projects, the band Tender Moments. Together, they recounted how they formed during summer camps past, and they shared the tale of Bowers’ father Ted, a almost mythical figure in their telling. It seems the elder Bowers was a campfire sing-along wizard, and the reunited friends performed one of his old originals that had been sung by them countless times around a cracking pile of burning wood and smiling faces. At the end of it, they gestured to the heavens and thanked Ted for helping spark the love of music that clearly still resonates within them.
The rest of the set was marked with the trademark Shook Twins mixture of fast tempo dance tunes and looping bursts of creeping wonder. The set ended on a silly note, with “Never Get A Girlfriend” reiterating guitarist Slice’s beloved late mother’s admonitions on his…boisterous…eating habits. After a short break, the band returned for a amazing extended encore that featured one of the night’s highlights, a special snack for those still hungry for more in the form of a late-night a musical sandwich.
Shook Twins fave “Window” dissolved partway in a chorus of effects laden psychedelic noise into a tripped out rendition of The Beatles classic “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” before again waxing crazily into Canned Heat‘s “Going Up the Country.” To cap the evening off, and, in their words, to say “Fuck You!” to 2016’s seeming endless parade of musical loss the band, welcomed Miranda Zickler and Jillian Walker (of Rabbit Wilde) for a moving rendition of Leonard Cohen’s reminder that we are all just “Passing Through.”
Taking a well deserved bow, the sisters and their band were all smiles, and they had every reason to be. They stood on the largest stage they’ve ever headlined in their hometown, buffeted by cheers from friends and family. With nothing left to do but spend the holidays finishing their new album and enjoying the warmth and kin of home, As ends to a story go, you can’t find one much better.
Opening band Rabbit Wilde has earned a reputation as great studio artists and a phenomenal live act, and it only took about five seconds of their fiery stage storming debut to see why they have such a following in the Pacific Northwest. Brash, multi-instrumental and genre-defying string playing brothers Nathan and Zach Hamer showed a wide variety of skills in an astonishingly short amount of time. Their spirit, coupled with brassy voice from Miranda Zickler and Jillian Walker’s snappy bass, made for a sweeping call to arms, whipping the crowd into a frenzy. With performances and receptions like the one at the Revolution Hall last Saturday the future is bright indeed for Rabbit Wilde.
Setlist: Shook Twins | Revolution Hall | Portland, OR | 12/10/16
Set: Intro, What We Do, Leftovers, Shake (with Sophie Bloch Miller on violin), Figure It Out, Mad Scientist@ (Vance Bergeson cover – duo Shooks Twins), Blue* (Joni Mitchell cover – duo Shook Twins), Dog Beach (Ted Bowers tribute/cover w/ Jena Bowers on glockenspiel, Sonoma Jalof on musical saw. “Tender Moments” band reunion performance.), No Choice, Call Me Out, Talkie Walkie, Time To Swim, What Have We Done, Stay Wild, Never Get A Girlfriend
Encore: Window> Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds (The Beatles cover)> Going Up the Country (Canned Heat cover)> Window Passing Through (Leonard Cohen cover w/ Miranda & Jillian of Rabbit Wilde)