Concert review: The Lumineers stomp and clap it up at Xcel Energy Center
Folk rock duo the Lumineers opened their Friday night concert at St Paul s Xcel Potential Center with Same Old Song an aptly titled number if there ever was one Five albums and years into their career the Lumineers have long since settled into a groove of writing and rewriting the same two old songs There s the one that s an anthem from the top that gets faster and shouty-er by the end And then there are the ones that start quiet with just vocalist Wesley Schultz and his multi-instrumentalist bandmate Jeremiah Fraites and slowly build up to arena-sized stompers While they introduced themselves to the constituents with the irritating novelty single Ho Hey the Lumineers have managed to outlive their Stomp Clap Hey peers Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and Of Monsters and Men in large part because enough folks really enjoy those same two old songs enough to fill the local hockey rink to threshold Thankfully Schultz has dialed back selected of his more obvious Dylan-isms and ascertained his own voice And it s a loud one While he s never been a shy guy at the microphone Schultz has developed an exceptionally strong voice His belting perfectly matches his band s melodramatic musings even if he trades subtlety for bombast Backed by a quartet of crackerjack touring members the duo opened the show on a high-tech stage filled with flashing oversize television sets and the glitz kind of felt off brand for the guys From there though the musicians hopped between that stage and the stripped-down catwalk that extended into the crowd Schultz even spent Brightside walking through the crowd on the arena floor and up into the level The gleeful attentive crowd heavy on young women in cowgirl drag cheered on the new songs and cheered even harder for the old ones As has become custom for the Lumineers they dropped Ho Hey in the first hour and let the audience shout out a large portion of the lyrics Related Articles Review Yacht Club music festival wraps up Sunday with high-energy nostalgic lineup Photos Day of the Minnesota Yacht Club music festival draws tens of thousands to Harriet Island Review Yacht Club festival kicks off second year with energetic Friday lineup Minnesota musicians enter the Yacht Club Festival with high hopes Steve Miller Band cancels Minnesota State Fair Grandstand show due to conditions change The Lumineers are still able to headline arenas I suppose because there s a sense of comfort to what they do They write plain spoken lyrically direct and easily digestible anthems full of big blowsy emotions that are even easier to stomp clap and hey along with on a balmy summer evening St Paul indie rockers Hippo Campus opened with a lively set of the sleek modern rock they ve perfected over the past dozen years All that time the band has spent playing festivals has paid off in their ability to win over crowds unfamiliar with their work The Lumineers fans who spent their time spilling beer on each other in front of the merch tables missed out on a terrific performance
