Photo by Ella Brandon. More on Flickr
Langhorne Slim, a folk-rock/country-twang group of four – anchored by lead singer/guitarist Sean Scolnick aka Langhorne Slim – played to a surprisingly diverse crowd at Off Broadway this Friday. With almost everyone wearing flannel, the show looked and felt like a giant family reunion of hipster cousins and farmer uncles, and Slim played up the “we’re all in this together” vibe throughout the show with great success. In fact, Slim hugged a reveler midway through the show after the guy sprayed his Busch tallboy all over the stage (to everyone’s great delight). His endearing and meandering dialogue with the captive audience, paired with his wild gestures and gyrations, kept the audience close to the stage in rapt attention throughout the show.
Slim started the show off by commenting that the band had played at Off Broadway before but tonight there were “87,000 more people in the crowd than the last time.” Starting the set off with “Rebel Side of Heaven,” the band played up the sing-along family reunion feeling from the start. The set continued for nearly two hours and Slim ran around the stage jumping from speakers to the drum set as the band played fantastically energetic renditions of “Be Set Free” and “Back to the Wild” (off the 2009 release, Be Set Free). However, my personal favorite, and a standout track of the set, was “In the Midnight,” during which the entire audience broke out into a wild jig and shouted the refrain along with Slim as keys player David Moore ripped apart the banjo.
While some reviewers of Slim and his band criticize them for repetitive music and tired lyrics, it is clear these critics have not seen a live Langhorne Slim set. I highly recommend seeing a show as soon as possible. In fact, I anticipate a quick five hour drive to see them in Chicago in April would be well worth it.
