Photos: The Avett Brothers entranced at Azura

August 28, 2025

Allison Scavo,

The Avett Brothers. // photo by Allison Scavo

The Avett Brothers
with Blackberry Smoke
Azura Amphitheater
Thursday, August 21

The Avett Brothers have been traveling for 25 years, but this was my first time seeing them live. Each song felt like it bloomed in a different way. Some sent the crowd into a soft sway, while others were anthemic, personal, a slow build that lands in your gut. Even when the cello wasn’t ready, the cello player, Joe Kwon, was. He fixed the scroll and peg only to wrap it around his neck and play as hard as he could, voices layering over each other like the wind pushing in two directions.

Tania’s fiddle caught the golden stage lights just right while every note she played left trails in the air. Scott played all his instruments, banjo, guitar, and piano, seamlessly. In several photos, I had to look back to see why the second piano player was cut off, only to realize he was playing another instrument. Some moments you don’t shoot. Some, you just stand there and let them wreck you. Avett Brothers was definitely a night where I took time to soak it all in instead of rampantly shooting and forgetting where I was.

All photos by Allison Scavo

The Avett Brothers

The Avett Brothers setlist
Distraction #74
Will You Return?
Left on Laura, Left on Lisa
Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise
Black Mountain Rag (Curly Fox cover)
Love of a Girl
Forever Now
Farewell Trion (Bob Carlin cover)
I Wish I Was
Satan Pulls the Strings
Live and Die
Laundry Room
Talk on Indolence
Ain’t No Man
No Hard Feelings
Murder in the City (Scott solo acoustic)
I Would Be Sad (Acoustic trio)
Bleeding White
Kick Drum Heart
Cheap Coffee
I and Love and You
—
Country Kid
Shame

Blackberry Smoke

Blackberry Smoke setlist
Fire in the Hole
Hammer and the Nail
Hey Delilah
Sleeping Dogs
Midnight Special
(traditional, with Sleeping Dogs reprise)
Azalea
Run Away From It All
One Horse Town
Good One Comin’ On
Ain’t Much Left of Me
When the Levee Breaks (Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe McCoy cover with Ain’t Much Left of Me reprise)