Continuing to tour in support of their fourth consecutive critically acclaimed album Shore (Anti-Records, 2020), Fleet Foxes visited College Street Music Hall (CSMH) in New Haven, Connecticut this past Tuesday night for the fifth show on a 28-date trek of North America that kicked-off in Chesterfield, Missouri a few days prior.
Formed in 2006, the indie folk darlings hailing from Seattle, Washington are the quintet of frontman/guitarist Robin Pecknold, Skyler Skjelset (guitar), Casey Wescott (keyboards, mandolin, backing vocals), Christian Wargo (bass) and Morgan Henderson (multi-instrumentalist, including upright bass and saxophone). Since last year, Fleet Foxes have also been joined by touring drummer Christopher Icasiano.
Despite the distance from their home on the west coast, the Pacific Northwesterners – particularly Pecknold – share a strong connection to New York State. To make a long story short (too late!), the recording of Shore got underway at Aaron Dessner’s (The National) Long Pond Studios in Hudson, New York back in September 2019. Although the majority of Shore was subsequently recorded at Woody Jackson’s Electro-Vox Studio in Los Angeles, California from late-2019 to early-2020, progress was halted in March 2020 – due to what else – COVID-19 of course. With Shore conceptually complete from a music standpoint, Pecknold was not satisfied with his writings and was struggling to find the right words to match the music. However, it would not be for too long, as he eventually found the lyrical inspiration he craved during time spent on long drives from his Greenwich Village apartment, where he had been quarantined, to Lake Minnewaska in Ulster County, and further north into the Catskill Mountains.
A few ticks past 7:00 pm, doors to the historic venue constructed in 1926 and located in the heart of New Haven’s downtown arts district opened to the loyal Fleet Fox fans that had been queued a half block south of Yale University, many since the early afternoon. As throngs of patrons hurriedly began to file into the concert hall’s lobby, many headed straight for the merch table to purchase a t-shirt, hoodie or signed tour poster. Others were seen grabbing a craft beer on tap or a cocktail before securing a spot on the General Admission floor or heading to the upper balcony.
Fittingly opening the show at 8:00 pm, as it’s her voice you hear opening “Wading in Waist-High Water” on Fleet Foxes’ Shore, was Uwade Akhere. A Nigerian born singer-songwriter based in New York City, Uwade is an indie-folk artist whose star has been on the rise since the release of her very first single, “Nostalgia,” in 2019. Performing a 30-minute solo set, she favored stage right as she played a six-string Torino Green Gretsch that nearly matched her dress perfectly. With an angelic onstage presence – her songs are fittingly spiritual in nature as well – she relinquished sublime versions of her only other singles released to date, “The Man Who Sees Tomorrow” (2021) and “Do You See the Light Around Me?” (2022). As the venue was nearing its 2,000-capacity, Uwade played “One Way Trigger,” a cover that her fellow New York City natives The Strokes released in 2013. With Uwade’s set nearing its conclusion, and much to the delight of Fleet Foxes fans, she welcomed to the stage Wargo and Icasiano for her two final songs.
After a brief intermission to address the stage’s final preparations, Fleet Fox took the stage a few ticks past 9:00 pm to raucous applause from the now packed house. With Pecknold snapping a few shots of the adoring fans in front of him with a disposable camera, he announced immediately, “Thank you so much New Haven, thank you. And thank you so much to Uwade, that was an incredible opening set.” The night’s festivities officially got underway with “Sun Giant,” a soft, harmonic piece written in 2008 that began a cappella, before fading into full accompaniment, including a two-man horn section. Reprising her role from Shore, Uwade reappeared onstage to contribute backing vocals to “Wading in Waist-High Water.” It would not be the 22-year old’s last appearance of the evening, as she would later join the band during the encore for exquisite backing deliveries of “For a Week or Two” and “Going-to-the-Sun Road.”
For the entirety of the massive, 24-song set that encompassed Fleet Foxes’ rich and diverse catalog over the past 17 years, the Seattle musicians were in top form across the board, in particular, Pecknold’s unique baritenor voice. Hailed for their refined instrumentation and vocal harmonies, their music was meant to be executed in a place such as CSMH – the destination for concertgoers looking for a venue within spitting distance of Boston and Manhattan – renowned for its world-class acoustics and lighting.
Because Fleet Foxes’ two hour plus gig was filled with stand-out moments, picking the top song highlights is not easy. However, if I could choose only three, they would have to be (in order by appearance): Pecknold’s solo acoustic performance of “Silver Dagger” (a traditional American folk ballad popularized by Joan Baez); “Blue Ridge Mountains,” my favorite Fleet Foxes tune taken from their self-titled debut studio album (2008); and the impressive show’s finale, “Helplessness Blues,” the title track from their sophomore studio album (2011).
In the coming days and weeks, the North American leg of Fleet Foxes’ Shore Tour 2023 will sweep through Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, the Carolinas, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana and Maine. And in case you missed the CSMH show, or you just cannot get enough of Fleet Foxes in a live setting, they will be playing Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards in LaFayette, New York on July 12. The tour finale is slated to occur near Fleet Foxes’ old stomping grounds, at Thing Fest in Port Townsend, Washington, on August 25. To date, the only additional public appearance on the calendar for Fleet Foxes is the Festival Corona Capital in Mexico City on November 17.
Fleet Foxes Setlist: Sun Giant > Wading in Waist‐high Water (with Uwade) > Sunblind > Can I Believe You > Ragged Wood > Your Protector > He Doesn’t Know Why > Featherweight > Third of May/Ōdaigahara > Phoenix (Big Red Machine cover) > Bedouin Dress > White Winter Hymnal > Mearcstapa > Mykonos > Silver Dagger (traditional cover) > Montezuma > Cradling Mother, Cradling Woman > Maestranza > Blue Ridge Mountains > Grown Ocean > Encore: Someone You’d Admire > For a Week or Two (with Uwade) > Going-to-the-Sun Road (with Uwade) > Helplessness Blues
FLEET FOXES
Comments are closed.