I have seen Kurt Vile twice now this year and last Friday’s show at The Sinclair was just as powerful as that warm April night I saw him in Austin. I don’t know what it is about Kurt that makes me feel the way I do. Maybe it’s the fact that he spent some of his formative years in Boston, aimless and a little sad, as I did. Maybe it’s the fact that he looks like the kind of guys I would look up to as a teenager, the lanky dudes with long hair that wore cool clothes and always showed you some music or movie that would blow you away. The guys who were quiet and shy but had some deep talent that you would always press them to unleash. It also doesn’t hurt that Kurt makes some of the most beautiful, meditative and real rock and roll out there. 

The set at The Sinclair floated from loud massive tracks like KV Crimes to quiet reflective tunes, sometimes with just Kurt on an acoustic guitar. And while most of the praise always goes to the man the group is named after, we cant look past his tremendous backing band “The Violators”. Everyone here is so in tune with one another it seems as if they’re talking in some alien language. For anyone that got to witness Freak Train towards the end of the set you know what I mean. This is a band that understands each other. Everyone at The Sinclair that night needed this. Some catharsis to end this strange year that never seemed to end. For those few hours out of the cold in that little venue, everything was working just fine. Thank you Kurt.