The Head and The Heart Close Out Their Self-Titled Anniversary Tour With a Living Room Show at the Wang Theatre
Thursday night at Boston's Wang Theatre felt like the last night of something special. And it was. The Head and The Heart were closing out the final stop of their self-titled 15th anniversary tour, and the energy that comes with a last night on the road was present from the very first note.
The Brudi Brothers opened the evening, bringing bluegrass warmth to a theatre that was filling up fast. The Washington-bred duo leaned more country than The Head and The Heart's folk-indie sound, but the fit was natural enough, and by the time the headliner took the stage the Wang was packed and ready.
What greeted the crowd when The Head and The Heart finally walked out was a stage that looked like someone's living room. Lamps, plants, framed artwork, and hanging above the mantle, a painting of the self-titled album's cover, the record that launched everything and the whole reason everyone was there. It was an intentional, unhurried aesthetic that set the tone for an evening that felt genuinely intimate despite the grandeur of the venue.
The lead singer wasted no time closing the gap between stage and crowd. On the very first song he was out in the audience, which is not something you see often, and certainly not on the opening number. It showed immediately that this wasn't going to be a band standing behind microphone stands for two hours.
The Wang is a traditional seated theatre, but nobody sat. The whole room was on its feet from the start, dancing and singing along in a way that would have looked more at home in a general admission club. The seated setting gave everything a larger scope and better sightlines, but the energy was entirely that of a room that had come to move.
The setlist opened with newer material before settling into what the night was really about. The band played their 2011 self-titled debut in its entirety, the Platinum-certified record that contains "Down in the Valley," "Rivers and Roads," and "Lost in My Mind," songs that have been living with fans for fifteen years. Hearing the full album, in a room full of people who know every word, in a venue this beautiful, on the last night of a tour built to honor it, had a weight to it that the newer songs couldn't quite match. Not because the newer material wasn't strong ("Arrow," "Aperture," and "All We Ever Knew" all landed well) but because the self-titled set was the reason everyone made the trip.
Between songs, the band took their time. Stories about their early days, jokes about how their longevity as a band comes in no small part from all of them going to therapy together, and reflections on what it meant to be celebrating this record fifteen years on. It fit the living room stage perfectly.
The encore stripped things back further. Jonathan Russell, Charity Rose Thielen, and Matt Gervais sang "Glory of Music" with the rest of the band off stage, three voices and a song, closing out the final night of tour in the most powerful way possible.
Fifteen years is a long time. Thursday night at the Wang, it didn't feel that way at all.
The Head and the Heart SETLIST:
Cats and Dogs / Coeur D'Alene
Ghosts
Down in the Valley
Rivers and Roads
Honey Come Home
Lost in My Mind
Winter Song
Sounds Like Hallelujah
Heaven Go Easy on Me
Grace
Oh Virginia
All We Ever Knew
Fire Escape
Another Story
Aperture
Honeybee
Arrow
Missed Connection
Shake
Encore:
Glory of Music
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