Five years can change a lot. Back in 2021, I saw Futurebirds at Lark Hall as a trio, and while the music was every bit as beautiful and transportive as I’d hoped, I was experiencing the show through the haze of excruciating back pain caused by three herniated discs. I remember the music. I remember the feeling in the room and I remember trying desperately to ignore what my body was telling me. This time, something felt different from the moment the lights went down. The band was at full strength. And so was I! And instead of three Futurebirds onstage, there were six. It’s difficult to know whether five years makes a band wiser, a listener more appreciative, or both. But standing in Lark Hall on September 5, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this particular reunion with the Futurebirds had been worth waiting for.
Taking place during a jam-packed Labor Day weekend with seemingly endless concert options competing for attention, the decision to spend Saturday night at Lark Hall may not have been the obvious choice, but to me, the FOMO was just to much to ignore. It became clear very quickly that everyone who made the same choice would soon be richly rewarded. Just one day removed from the release of Far Out Country Volume II, the ambitious second half of the band’s sprawling new double album, the Futurebirds delivered one of the most intimate, authentic and life-affirming shows I’ve experienced in recent memory. There was humor. There was passion. There was brotherhood. There were harmonies so perfectly intertwined that the three distinct voices of Carter King, Thomas Johnson and Daniel Womack often seemed to become one. Most importantly, there was love. Love for the songs. Love for the band. Love for the people in the room. And a palpable sense that, for a few hours, we were all part of something considerably bigger than the number of people standing shoulder to shoulder inside a concert hall.
Futurebirds have been in flight since 2008, when University of Georgia students Daniel “Womz” Womack, Carter King, Thomas Johnson and Brannen Miles began building a band within Athens’ famously fertile independent music scene. Nearly two decades, six studio albums and a half-dozen EPs later, the group has developed a sound that remains remarkably difficult to categorize. A swirling combination of rock & roll, Americana, country rock, folk, psychedelia and whatever else happens to find its way into the mix. The band’s secret weapon has always been its three primary songwriters. King, Johnson and Womack each bring a distinctly different voice and personality to the table, yet somehow those differences have become the very thing that makes Futurebirds sound so cohesive. They’ve spent years traveling America’s highways and backroads, graduating from hometown heroes to national headliners while growing up together in the process. Indeed, the “baby-faced gods of terror” who once looked like they might have wandered onto a stage after skipping class have become bearded-faced gods of terror. Fathers, husbands, road warriors and veterans of countless dive bars, theaters and festival stages. The facial hair may have changed. The ambition certainly hasn’t.
After a fun opening set from the Alec Lewis Group that featured original songs mixed with covers of Talking Heads, Vulfpeck and Genesis downstairs at Lark Hall’s Grateful Dead-inspired pub, The Eleven, the crowd made its way upstairs into one of Albany’s most intimate and beautifully renovated venues. Lark Hall has a knack for making good bands sound great and great bands sound magical. Its acoustics, cozy dimensions and unmistakable sense of place have become part of the experience itself. The Futurebirds looked right at home from the opening note.
Launching into the goosebump-inducing harmonies of “APO,” the band immediately reminded everyone why its live reputation has become so formidable. “Fly On,” one of the irresistible new tracks from Far Out Country, followed, before the thought-provoking “Sober Somewhere” offered an early glimpse into the emotional terrain of the new material.
“I’m still pining hard for your love now baby and
-Lyrics from “Sober Somewhere”
I’ve been trying hard to convince you
That if it burns down, we’ll figure it out
And if it bums you out, we’ll figure that out too
Now I wish I was sober somewhere
Or getting loaded up with you”
An early standout of the night came with “St. Teresa,” a jammed-out nod to Futurebirds’ past and, fittingly, to Lark Hall’s own history. The song originally appeared on the band’s Bloomin’ EP, produced by My Morning Jacket’s Carl Broemel, who also happened to play the first-ever performance at Lark Hall. Thomas Johnson’s confession that he’s “afraid to tell [his] family that he didn’t make the money” during “Feel Less Bad” provided one of the evening’s many reminders that Futurebirds have never been afraid to balance sincerity with self-deprecating humor. From there, the band reached back to 2013’s Baba Yaga for the rowdy singalong “Heavy Weights,” followed by the hard-rocking “All Damn Night.”
“Sienna Life,” one of the singles from the new album, gave the set a gentler turn before the band pulled one of the night’s biggest surprises from its hat, The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven. A song already synonymous with nostalgia somehow sounded completely at home inside the Futurebirds universe, with the band putting its own warm, reverb-soaked fingerprints all over the classic. Then came “Pretty Eyes,” perhaps one of the evening’s most emotionally vulnerable moments. Womack has described the song as a slow-burning surrender anthem about love, self-protection and the strange relief of finally allowing yourself to be truly seen. Hearing it live, those themes felt less like an explanation of a song and more like an invitation into someone’s living room. The first set closed with a trio of Futurebirds staples, “Twentyseven,” the beautifully contemplative “Waiting on a Call,” and the irresistible “Trippin’.” By the time the band declared “We didn’t wanna change the world, we could barely change the sheets of our beds,” it was becoming increasingly clear there was something very special happening at Lark Hall.
After a short puff break outside, “Up and Out” and “Marco Polo” reset the room before the band showed off its playfulness with the rare B-side “Olive Garden Daydream #47.” Apparently even the Futurebirds dream of endless pasta and breadsticks. “Killing Ground” and “Nervous Ground” formed another clever pairing before “Gsus Take the Wheel” stopped me in my tracks. It was during that song that the brilliance of Far Out Country really started to sink in. The new material doesn’t feel like a band trying to prove it still has something to say. It sounds like a band that has finally figured out how much it has to say. Yes, the bearded-faced gods of terror have become wise before our eyes.
Another rare B-side, “Painted Tears,” provided a showcase for some gorgeous pedal-steel work, which seemed to float through the room before giving way to “Dig.” The resulting peak was one of those moments that cannot really be recreated on paper. The six musicians totally locked, clearly having fun and getting completely lost in the music while the jam expanded around them. That was Futurebirds at their best. Not polished for the sake of being polished. Not performing at us. Playing with each other for us.
“Movin’ On” followed, and perhaps no song better captured the emotional theme of the evening. Womack has described it as a song about change, evolution and finding the ‘next thing’ with enthusiasm, about recognizing that growth often requires letting go of whatever is mentally or physically holding us back. That hit a little differently for me. Five years ago, I was sitting in this same building trying to forget that my body hurt. Now, I was dancing in the same room without that weight, watching a band I love continue to evolve in real time. Sometimes you don’t realize how far you’ve traveled until you return to where you started. “Im YR Mane” kept the momentum rolling before “Sinz & Frenz” showcased the band’s considerable technical chops. Finally a mashup of beloved oldies “Ski Chalet” into “Hotel Parties” back into “Skiprise” brought the set toward an all-out cathartic rock & roll finish. By then, the room was no longer simply watching Futurebirds. We were in it with them. And yet, somehow, the best was still to come.
The encore began with “Rodeo,” arguably Futurebirds’ most popular song and one of the band’s most enduring. Its haunting harmonies and the simple ache of missing your friends while chasing dreams felt almost unbearably poignant in this particular room, on this particular night. Then they dropped Neil Young’s “Powderfinger” on us! At that point, it almost felt as though all the other concerts happening around the Capital Region that night had ceased to exist. This was the place to be and everyone in the room seemed to know it. And then, after having more or less resigned myself to not hearing the song I’d been chasing the most, Futurebirds unleashed one final number, “College Try.” Suddenly, the night became personal all over again and I couldn’t have asked for a better ending. The band played it to perfection too, leaning into one another with huge smiles and unapologetic showmanship. It wasn’t simply a song being performed. It was six musicians experiencing genuine joy together and inviting the rest of us into it. That may be the hardest thing to explain about a Futurebirds show.
The harmonies are extraordinary. The musicianship is undeniable. The songs are adventurous, funny, sad, strange and beautiful. The jams can reach astonishing heights. But what stays with you isn’t necessarily a particular note or solo. It’s the feeling. Love. Friendship. Togetherness. The strange and wonderful realization that, for a couple of hours, a room full of people who arrived as strangers became part of something much bigger than the number of people standing inside it. Music has a way of doing that. It connects us in places where language fails. It reminds us of people we’ve lost, places we’ve been, versions of ourselves we thought we’d left behind. Sometimes our friends remind us why we began the adventure in the first place. And sometimes a band does, too. Futurebirds have spent nearly two decades in flight, forever looking toward the next horizon. But Far Out Country suggests they’ve finally realized something important. The destination was never somewhere else. It was always here. At Lark Hall, that idea felt especially powerful.
Futurebirds | September 5, 2026 | Lark Hall | Albany, NY
Set 1: APO, Fly On, Sober Somewhere, St Teresa, Wishin’, Feel Less Bad, Heavy Weights, All Damn Night, Sienna Life, Just Like Heaven*, Pretty Eyes, Twentyseven, Waiting on a Call, Trippin’.
Set 2: Up and Out, Marco Polo, Olive Garden Daydream #47, Killing Ground, Nervous Ground, Gsus Take the Wheel, Wear It Out, Painted Tears > Dig, Movin’ On, Im YR Mane, Sinz & Frenz, Ski Chalet > Hotel Parties > Skiprise.
Encore: Rodeo, Powderfinger**, College Try.
*The Cure cover
**Neil Young cover
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