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Band of Horses show review at the Monolith Music Festival, September 14, 2008 at 7:15pm

September 25th, 2008 Posted by: Dust Devil

Hello!

The crowd was still in a great mood after the Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings set, so when Band of Horses made their way onstage amidst the backdrop of a beautiful evening with a harvest moon in the sky, they were greeted by the crowd in a warm manner. Deservedly so, we were in for one heck of a treat!

Band of Horses began their career in one of the meccas of the music world, Seattle, WA. Now based out of South Carolina, this band takes the prog-rock stylings of Neil Young, some of the elements of classic shoegazer, add in a taste of Southern Rock and weave it together into a classic mix of rock and roll. The singer reminds me a lot of Doug Martsch from Built to Spill and the guitar work at times is even reminiscient of Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins fame. If you like Built to Spill, you will love Band of Horses. If you don’t, in the humble opinion of the Dust Devil you have some serious issues.

I digress. A good friend of mine (yes, Robert Lerma once again) introduced me to this band a couple of years ago, so I had some familarity with them. Why I wasn’t immediately blown away when I had previously heard them is beyond me, but by far this was the best “discovery” for me of the festival.

Three guitars is an unusual and generally a welcome characteristic of a band for this listener, and Band of Horses uses that formula to produce a GIGANTIC sound on record and more important, live! This was the one band of the weekend that has the capabilty of producing a sound big enough to truly utilize what Red Rocks Amphitheatre has to offer in terms of the acoustics. From the moment they launched into The First Song, one of the two tracks of their’s I did know, I was in awe. Yes, AWE. Ben Bridwell’s vocals were crystal clear, the musicianship was the best of the weekend (yes, even over the Dap Kings) and once again, that big sound!

Earlier in the year I wrote a post about the Elbow show back in May at the Bluebird Theatre in Denver. During that show there was a moment when they played Newborn that still resonates with me today. That song was a monumental experience for me in terms of the live concerts I have seen over the years.

Well, Band of Horses had the same affect on me when they played The Funeral from their first disc Everything All The Time. That sound was so huge and so beautful, I was nearly in tears by the time the band launched into the final, climatic instrumentation at the end. That my friends, was the ultimate moment of the 2008 Monolith Music Festival … at least for me. At that moment, I realized I was in the midst of greatness. Call that comment overblown if you want, but there are moments that stick with you during your lifetime. For one brief moment, the world was in perfect balance, and The Funeral from Band of Horses encapsulated that moment.

Band of Horses, thank you for proving once again that great music does still exist in this world. The night was not over, and there was one more great performance still to come, but in retrospect I get more upset that Justice was allowed to close the festival over this great band. Truly, there is no “Justice” in this world …

Cheers!
The Dust Devil

Filed under: My Take, Event Reviews