Turnpike Troubadours played their hearts out at Uptown

10 hours ago

Nick Spacek, Allison Scavo,

Turnpike Troubadours. // photo by Allison Scavo

Turnpike Troubadours
with American Aquarium and Leon Macjen
Uptown Theater
Thursday, September 4

A sea of plaid shirts, floral print dresses, and cowboy hats packed a sold-out Uptown Thursday night for an evening of stellar Americana. The sold-out portion was unsurprising, given that headliners, Oklahoma red dirt band Turnpike Troubadours, has the ability to sell over 10,000 tickets for a show at Azura and North Carolina’s country rockers American Aquarium can headline the Granada on their own. Nor was the dress code, given that what you wear to a country show has been fairly well codified for decades at this point.

What was a surprise was Turnpike playing for just shy of two hours. When they kicked off, per usual, with “The Bird Hunters” at 9:30, nobody in the crowd would’ve predicted that, after their usual set-closer of John Hartford’s “Long Hot Summer Days,” frontman Evan Felker would’ve said that they were gonna keep playing and go for another thirty minutes.

Turnpike Troubadours. // photo by Allison Scavo

There were hints, though. Felker seemed positively delighted at the crowd response to not only favorites like “7 & 7,” “Good Lord Lorrie,” and “Diamonds & Gasoline,” but the new songs from April’s The Price of Admission. That album’s opening track, “On the Red River,” saw a sing-along to the tear-jerker remembrance, as did the ode to growing up and becoming a parent that is “Heaven Passing Through.” Oddly, “Be Here,” a song tailor-made for big shouty singing, didn’t quite get the crowd response I expected, although it was still well-received.

That said, Turnpike’s set was just pure, unadulterated fun. People were dancing, everyone was singing along, there was stomping and clapping (although without band assistance, it was very much on the one and the three), and it just felt fucking joyous. It’s amazing to see the band play to a massive outdoor crowd, but they thrive in an environment like the Uptown, feeding off being able to see all the way up to the rafters and feel the shaking building as folks stamped their feet.

By the time they finished with an absolutely ripping version of “Shreveport,” the crowd mustered the energy to meet Turnpike’s verve for one last song and got rowdy a final time before the band, visibly soaked through, played their last big chord to uproarious response.

American Aquarium. // photo by Allison Scavo

Raleigh’s American Aquarium ripped into “Katherine Belle” to open their set and barely stopped moving for the next hour. How frontman B.J. Barham had the energy to take a verse and sing backup with Turnpike for “Long Hot Summer Days” later on, I’ve no idea. There was next to no pause between songs, and basically no stage banter. Just one song after another, played with a level of energy which turned tracks like “Casualties” from thoughtful meditations into fierce rockers.

American Aquarium falls somewhere on the Lucero-Gaslight Anthem-Bruce Springsteen spectrum, depending on the song, and can come across as painfully earnest at points, but the commitment to their craft and performance is admirable, and while the crowd might’ve been somewhat chatty throughout most of their set, they showed up at the end. The one-two closing punch of “I Hope He Breaks Your Heart” and “Burn.Flicker.Die” got a crowd response as big as though the Raleigh boys were the headliner.

Leon Majcen. // photo by Nick Spacek

Florida’s Leon Majcen was celebrating his 26th birthday Thursday night, and admitted that his 17 year-old and 26 year-old selves were both pretty blown away that they were playing to a packed theater as they opened for two Americana icons. His songs were clever and packed with wordplay, which Macjen also worked into his stage banter. I’d enjoyed what I’d heard when I checked him out the day before, but his live performance made me an instant fan, and I hope KC’s lucky to see him again after his next album, Making A Livin’ (Not a Killin’), drops in October.

A song “about making good decisions” entitled “Shot Myself in the Leg,” and a gloriously fingerpicked ode to John Prine called “World Gone By” were highlights, but his straight-ahead country, tinged with two-step and sung with a resonant voice, made Macjen the perfect opener.

All photos by Allison Scavo

Turnpike Troubadours

Turnpike Troubadours setlist
The Bird Hunters
Kansas City Southern
Gin, Smoke, Lies
Before the Devil Knows We’re Dead
On the Red River
A Tornado Warning
Brought Me
Whole Damn Town
Good Lord Lorrie
7 & 7
Every Girl
Be Here
Blue Star
Unrung
Heaven Passing Through
Wrecked
Mean Old Sun
Ruby Ann
Empty as a Drum (Acoustic by Evan Felker)
Diamonds & Gasoline (Acoustic by Evan Felker)
Long Hot Summer Days (John Hartford cover with BJ Barham)
Pay No Rent
The Housefire
Nothing You Can Do
Shreveport