You might cast around forever, and never find the peace you seek

I went out to see Josh Ritter Last night. I had high hopes, since the only other time I saw him it was at an awesome show back in London.

And last night he didn't disappoint.

Basia Bulat opened, and despite one of her strange instruments (she probably played 4 or 5 through half a dozen songs) being off-tune, she was pretty solid. Great voice and a talent for playing many different types of instrument, half of which I can't even name.

I was surprised how much old stuff Ritter played, especially from the Golden Age album. It's especially weird since his new album just came out recently. You'd think he would be focussing on that stuff. But realistically it's a pretty toned-down album energy and volume-wise, and he seems to put a ton of energy into his shows.

He did a few from the albums in between too, and besides Thin Blue Flame I don't think he missed any of my fav's. And it was a pretty long show too - had to be a 2 hour set for him. And his bassist Zack Hickman is still rocking the incredible moustache:


The one thing I notice even more in live shows than I do on the albums is that Ritter is a fucking incredible writer and lyricist. I'd probably have to say he's the best I've ever seen live.

I gotta say that he seems to have slipped a little towards the crazy side in his banter, a la Joel Plaskett once he got more confidence in public. But it makes it more entertaining. And my favourite part of the night was the final crescendo came, the whole band was rocking out, then looked back to the drummer for the final beat. But instead of hitting it, the whole band froze in their positions like mannequins and stayed like that for about half a minute until the drummer decided to let loose.

And the crowd goes wild...