Back in June, The Avett Brothers were forced to cancel the final night of a three-night stand at McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale, Oregon because of safety concerns. The North Carolina-based band made good on their promise to make up that show on Friday night. The Americana act delivered a career-spanning show that featured the debut of an Elliott Smith cover along with a new interpretation of a traditional folk song.
The Avett Brothers got their night going in The Evergreen State with “Satan Pulls The Strings” from 2016’s True Sadness. From there the rootsy, bluegrass-tinged ensemble would work their way through a selection of tunes from seven of their albums. The band leaned the most on True Sadness with six cuts from their most recent studio effort offering up the likes of “Ain’t No Man,” “Smithsonian,” “Divorce Separation Blues” and the record’s title track.
Eleven songs into the main set, Seth Avett looked to his collection of Elliott Smith covers that he recorded with Jessica Lee Mayfield back in 2015. Seth took center stage for a solo acoustic take Smith’s “Angeles” from the singer-songwriter’s influential 1997 release Either/Or. It marked the first time he had performed the song during a gig with his full-time band. Later in the evening, the band had another surprise up their sleeve as Scott Avett and cellist Joe Kwon teamed up on “Froggy Went A Courtin’.” Last night the pair added to the song’s long history of interpretations as Kwon sung the lyrics in Korean.
Watch fan-shot video of “Angeles” and “Froggy Went A Courtin’” below:
[Angeles | Captured by kjnoll6]
[Froggy Went A Courtin’ | Captured by hashinor]
Setlist (via Avett Setlist Database)
Satan Pulls the Strings, Laundry Room, Talk On Indolence, The Fall, Don’t Turn Around (The Everybodyfields Cover), Ain’t No Man, Smithsonian, Famous Flower Of Manhattan, Divorce Separation Blues, I Would Be Sad, Angeles (Elliott Smith Cover), Salina, February Seven, Denouncing November Blue, Rejects In The Attic, True Sadness, Operator (Jim Croce Cover), Backwards With Time, Froggy Went A Courtin’, Lucky Stranger (David Childers Cover), Head Full Of Doubt/Road Full Of Promise, Live And Die, Morning Song, Slight Figure Of Speech, Hand-Me-Down Tune
Encore: Black Mountain Rag, Neapolitan Sky, No Hard Feelings
