When The Avett Brothers step onstage, they do not disappoint — their live shows are unfailingly dynamic, energetic, and engaging. And so it was last Sunday, when Scott and Seth Avett and their bandmates delighted Bowl-goers with a two-hour-plus set that pulled songs from their nine-record catalog. Dispelling with an opening act, the band started promptly at 7:30 p.m. with the rollicking “Satan Pulls the Strings” from their 2016 record, True Sadness. Three more tunes followed — “Down with the Shine,” “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise,” and “Go to Sleep” — before Scott introduced cellist Joe Kwon after some particularly lovely bowing.
Musically, the show was a swirl of genres — folk ballads, bluegrass, rock, indie folk — that spoke to the depth of the band’s musicianship. Each of the seven band members had solos, all of which were brilliant — Seth’s guitar noodling was as good as any rock-and-roll axman’s, drummer Mike Marsh hit the skins with toe-tapping deftness, and fiddle player Tania Elizabeth teased alluring notes out of her instrument.
While the band members gave each song their undivided attention, a few were particularly memorable, including “The Ballad of Love and Hate,” “Talk on Indolence,” “Laundry Room,” and a heart-wrenching acoustic duet by Seth and Elizabeth of The Cranberries’ “Zombie.” “Ain’t No Man” and “No Hard Feelings,” both from True Sadness, were also crowd-pleasers, translating excellently to the outdoor venue.