January 30, 2013: The Lumineers

Concert Details:
Bands: The Lumineers, Y La Bamba
Location: DAR Constitution Hall, Washington, DC

Setlist:

1. Submarines
2. I Ain't Nobody's Problem
3. Classy Girl
4. Flowers in Her Hair
5. Ho Hey (In Crowd Unplugged)
6. Subterranean Homesick Blues (Bob Dylan Cover)
7. Charlie Boy
8. Slow it Down
9. Duet (Unnamed)
10. Dead Sea
11. Stubborn Love
12. Ho Hey
13. Flapper Girl

Encore:

   14. Morning Song
   15. Big Parade
   16. This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) (Talking Heads Cover)

The opener Y La Bamba was unmemorable to me.  I was barely paying attention and they didn't grab me.  Part of it is the venue, it's a cool place and great for things like comedy shows, but it felt awkward to me and I just couldn't get in to the opening band.

The Lumineers were a fun show.  They don't have a lot of songs so everyone was able to get into the set really well.  Early in the set they made what I considered to be a fatal mistake in my eyes.  The entire band picked up their instruments unplugged and walked around to the back of the venue and started singing the song Ho Hey, barely audible and then split the crowd in half to have half of us sing "Ho" with the other half of the crowd singing "Hey".  Personally, I love when bands let the crowd sing a part of the song, like part of a chorus or the end of a famous line, but I can't stand when a band effectively lets a crowd sing a whole song.  Some people may like it, but when it's their biggest song, I find it almost offensive that I paid so much to hear a band do a show and to hear a song, that when they have the crowd sing the entire song, even though it is fun it takes away from the show for me.  I don't want to come off sounding to cynical, it was fun, but still I like to hear the bands sing at least a good part of a song.  The Lumineers had some foresight though and were able to rectify this by playing the song later in the show plugged in and singing the entire song themselves after mentioning they were doing it just in case we hadn't heard it.  Going into the show I knew the band a bit and knew the songs, but was mostly a passive fan, but afterwards I found myself being a much bigger fan.

Overall I think it was a good show, even if the venue was not the type I think they should be playing at.  Either way, I have tickets to see them in July and am thoroughly excited for the show.