SLIDESHOW: Lord Huron, Shakey Graves and Julia Jacklin at the Greek Theatre
BERKELEY — Lord Huron returned to the Bay Area on Friday, following performances at BottleRock and Treasure Island music festivals over the past nine months. Given the opportunity to headline its own show at the Greek Theatre, the Los Angeles indie folk band flexed its storytelling muscle, and frontman Ben Schneider had was able to lead the band at its own pace.
The band is still touring in support of its 2018 album, Vide Noir, and the majority of its set was composed of songs from that album, as well as predecessor Strange Trails. The latter album turned Lord Huron from an indie darling to a massive success, led in large part by “The Night We Met,” which was made famous by being featured on the 13 Reasons Why first season soundtrack.
The band kicked off with a combination of “Love Like Ghosts” and “Meet Me in the Woods,” both from Strange Trails, as the fog machines picked up steam to set the proper mood for the melancholic tunes. The reverb of Lord Huron’s guitar and Schneider’s voice, which always seems to be on the cusp of break—for dramatic effect—was the hallmark of the set going forward. The show continued with a handful of songs from the band’s 2012 debut album, Lonesome Dreams. The set included Lord Huron’s most popular tracks like “Wait by the River” and “When the Night is Over.”
Schneider shimmied and slow-danced across the stage, wearing his signature Stetson hat during
Texas singer-songwriter Shakey Graves preceded the headliners. Alejandro Rose-Garcia, previously best known as a roots-rocking one-man band, suitcase kick drum in hand, has more or less recreated a new identity with a full band, blending in elements of dream pop, psychedelia and alt-rock in the vein of Radiohead. Shakey Graves also released an album in 2018, Can’t Wake Up, and he performed a handful of songs from the new album, such as “Dining Alone.” His set staple, the stomper “Dearly Departed,” as well as “Family and Genus” (both from 2014’s And the War Came) made an appearance, as well as “Nobody’s Fool,” the title track of his 2015 album.
Australian artist Julia Jacklin opened the concert with a 30-minute set of songs from her sophomore album, February’s Crushing.
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