The Avett Brothers closed out the Roots N Blues N BBQ festival on Oct. 2 by playing a nearly hour-and-a-half set that had the audience singing, dancing and stomping along with the band.
For a later show — 7:30 p.m. on a Sunday — one might think that as the night went on, people would leave the performance, but the audience only grew. Festival-goers wanted to hang onto the magical weekend as long as possible, and Seth and Scott Avett provided the necessary songs and energy.
The North Carolina natives, joined by bandmates Bob Crawford, Joe Kwon, Mike Marsh, Tania Elizabeth and Paul Defiglia, played older classics, like “Go to Sleep” and “Laundry Room,” as well as songs from their newest album, _True Sadness_, including “Ain’t No Man.”
No matter the song, the crowd responded — loudly.
When the band started off by playing the bass-thumping and fiddle-crazy “Satan Pulls the Strings,” the crowd danced.
When the brothers brought out G. Love, the frontman of G. Love & Special Sauce who previously collaborated with The Avett Brothers, the crowd laughed and hollered as G. Love played the harmonica to “Milk and Sugar.”
When The Avett Brothers crooned the classic “Morning Song,” there were visible tears from the audience.
And then The Avett Brothers brought the house down with their closer, “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise.” In that moment, it seemed like nothing else existed in the world aside from the audience and The Avett Brothers. Crawford thumped his double bass, Kwon moved the bow across his cello with a ferocity rivaled only by Elizabeth’s fiddle-playing, and the brothers themselves sang like it would be the last song they were to ever sing.
It was supposed to be the last song of their set, in fact. They bid everyone a good night and went backstage as the crowd clapped.
But the crowd didn’t stop clapping.
“We would love to,” Seth Avett told the crowd as he and the others walked back on stage, acknowledging the implied desire for an encore. “Thank you very much, y’all.”
The seven-member band then played two more songs, “Slight Figure of Speech,” which included a minute-long drum solo from Marsh that brought down the house for the second time, and “No Hard Feelings.”
Finally, the band walked off stage once again. The lights dimmed, and with that, Roots N Blues N BBQ was over.
_Edited by Katie Rosso | krosso@themaneater.com_