The Head and the Heart opened to a full house at the 9:30 Club on Nov. 4 on their tour promoting the sophomore album “Let’s Be Still.”
The Seattle natives were prefaced by fellow northwest natives The Quiet Life and Thao and the Get Down Stay Down of Falls Church, Va.
The Quiet Life started the night off with a folksy Northwest vibe of ballads and sing- alongs. The Portland natives released their first album “Big Green” in 2011 and recently followed up with their sophomore album “Wild Pack” on Oct. 29.
Thao and the Get Down Stay Down invited a change of atmosphere at the venue with their more offbeat sound. While their music was good, it was their energetic and active stage presence that stole the show.
Thao Nguyen, raised in Falls Church, Va, credits this sound and a transition to more extroverted songs to the time she spent working on prisoners’ rights in the San Francisco County Jails. Her opening song of the night and title track for her album “We the Common” is dedicated to a prisoner she met while working at the Valley State Prison for Women.
Despite the enthusiasm for both the openers, the entrance of The Head and the Heart brought a new level of energy to the crowd. From the opening to the two encores, the crowd was almost louder than the band in their choir-like echoes of every song.
The band started off the night with “Summertime,” a track off their new album, but ended up playing a good combination from both of their albums, jumping back and forth from songs like “Sounds like Hallelujah” to “Shake.” However, one song noticeably left out was the title track from their latest album “Let’s Be Still.”
The band’s energy and clear enthusiasm for their folksy rock songs came through in their performance. As they played, the band members made full use of the stage, interacting with each other and even sharing microphones at times.
While all six band members were involved in most of the songs, Johnson took the stage alone playing his piano for the first encore. “Virginia” was an unexpected, but well-received contrast to the more instrumentally complex songs that the band typically performs.
The stage chemistry of The Head and the Heart combined with their energetic set list created an unforgettable performance that did not leave fans disappointed.
