Dawes and Langhorne Slim @ Lincoln Hall 10/23

After missing Dawes during Daytrotter's second Barnstormer Tour, I was pretty excited to see the band play with Langhorne Slim. In fact, I was also quite excited to see headliner Langhorne Slim as well. But the thing that made me the most excited about the events of the 23rd was the fact that it marked my first attendance to fledgling venue Lincoln Hall. All three of those elements together made me a very happy camper indeed.

I've been excited for Lincoln Hall to open it's doors since I first heard about the venue all the way back in June. It is, after all, presented to you by the same folks that own and operate one of my favorite venues in the country, Schubas and the things that make Schubas special are all present at Lincoln Hall- The relaxed hipness of the restaurant and bar, the genuine niceness of the staff, and amazing sound quality in the concert hall itself. When I say that Lincoln Hall just might be my favorite venue, I mean that. Atmosphere is everything and Lincoln Hall has just the perfect amount of it.

Dawes - When My Time Comes

Langhorne Slim - Restless

A friend of mine who was in attendance and did get to see the fellows Dawes earlier in the month told me to prepare to be blown away by the band and sure enough, Dawes stole the show. I'm no stranger to Dawes' music. In fact, their debut album is a serious contender for my favorite album of the year. I expected it to be good, I expected it to be great, but I didn't expect to stand in Lincoln Hall with my mouth agape in disbelief  at just how phenomenal the band was.

Playing a good portion of the solid tracks off their folk-tinged alt country LP, Dawes impressed with their energy, talent and the ability to fool the audience into thinking they were years older and wiser than they actually are. Dawes range in age from 18 to 24. I can garauntee however that the audience members who didn't know that would never suspect for a second. Dawes is a throw back to classic rock in the best sort of way, delivering mature songs about loss, heartache and coming to terms with mortality. They might be playing the opening slot now but I'm sure it won't remain that way for long.

Dawes was a tough act to follow but Langhorne Slim didn't disappoint. Sean Scolnick (better known as Slim himself) was genuinely happy to be playing the 3rd show ever at Lincoln Hall and proclaimed his feelings towards the venue on quite a few occasions. Slim's only complaint was that the place was too clean and requested that the audience dirty it up- Only figuratively of course. He promptly explained that he wasn't encouraging anyone to litter. Busting out a solid mix of songs off his latest effort, Be Set Free, and older tracks, going so far back as "Electric Love Letter", Slim and his band had an infectious energy. Sean climbed a speaker, he jumped into the audience, he passed around the microphone and he brought half a dozen ladies up on stage with him.

The upbeat numbers were a definite highlight of the set but what stole the show, for me, was a gorgous, slowed down rendition of "Restless", performed by Sean after his band had left the stage.

I've heard "Restless" upwards of a hundred times. Heck, I have somewhere around 5 versions of it in my iTunes library. But even so, the song still holds it's own, even when stacked up against the catchiest songs off Be Set Free and the stellar set that Dawes delivered.