On May 14th, the veteran indie folk rockers of The Head and The Heart concluded the first leg of their 15-year anniversary tour at Boston’s Wang Theatre. The vivacious celebration of their debut album and continuation as a band had the audience up out of their seats for a real hootenanny of a show.
The Brudi Brothers opened the show with their jaunty Americana sound. The trio of brothers lightened the mood with charmingly awkward baseball banter, an arbitrary dedication to Wang Theatre benefactor Ernie Boch Jr. (“I’m not paid to say this, I just like the name”), and a string of catchy, old-school style country folk tunes that highlighted their effortless family harmony.
The Head and The Heart walked on stage to an excited welcome from the waiting crowd, and they matched the energy quickly. Diving headfirst into a front-to-back performance of their debut self-titled album, The Head and The Heart started on a high and stayed there. Vocalist Matty Gervais was climbing amplifiers and running through the aisles of the theatre within minutes of stepping into the spotlight. The surprisingly rambunctious crowd was not only singing along but also speaking directly to the band during their talk breaks between songs. A catcall of “nice blazer!” led to some slight confusion when Charity Rose Thielen misheard it as a request to “play Major Lazer!”
While the main draw of the night was certainly the complete performance of The Head And The Heart, fans were treated to more than just the classics. The headline set was broken up into two halves, with the latter half being a grab bag of eleven selections from the rest of The Head and The Heart catalog, including last year’s release, Aperture. The crowd was just as energized for the new as the old, and enthusiasm never waned. The evening was an excellent way to end the first segment of the 15-year anniversary tour on a high note.
Check out all of Greg’s photos from the show below:
