Live Music Week: The Avett Brothers

There are some bands that are just better live. Sure, they produce regular studio albums, but they really only exist to give the band new stuff to play on tour; the songs don't achieve perfection until they are played in concert. Bands like Dave Matthews Band (who happen to be the musical act on SNL this upcoming weekend), Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, and The Grateful Dead are the easiest examples of bands like this, but non jam bands fit into this category too. Which artists do you like much better live?

One such band that I'm really into right now is The Avett Brothers. While not the coolest band to admit to liking, this folk/rock/country collaboration between two North Carolina brothers produce solid studio recordings that come to life when performed live. That's a rarity for a semi-mellow folk band that borders on the wussy, but the Avett Brothers' enthusiasm and powerful voices put them in unique category of folk artists who can rock.

Full disclosure: I've never seen the Avett Brothers in person, although they tour constantly. They last came to Northeast Ohio last June when they played the Akron Civic Theatre. At that time I had only discovered them a few months prior, and didn't know enough to go see them live. I will not be making that mistake again when they come to the Cleveland House of Blues on Feb. 27, 2010 (purchase tickets here)as they tour on their new album I and Love and You (produced by uber-producer Rick Rubin).

Enough talking. Below are four separate Avett Brother performances/concerts. Give them a listen yourself and let me know what you think.

First up, to continue the Live Music Week theme of late night TV performances, The Avett Brothers played on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" last night (without The Roots)performing one of their more upbeat songs "Slight Figure of Speech":



Here they perform "The Perfect Space" on Spinner.com. They perform three more songs from their new CD during this session, which you can view here.


NPR invited them to perform in their office as a part of their Tiny Desk Concert series, which features small intimate performances recorded in one of their offices. The 3 song performance caused NPR's Bob Boilen to ask Scott Avett, "Did you swallow an amplifier as a child?"
You can watch here.

Finally,The Avett Brothers performed an hour long set at the Newport Folk Festival last summer. NPR said of the concert:

"Without fail, the enthusiastic roots-rock band generated massive volume onstage at Newport. The Avetts brought their emotionally charged and frenetic live show to the Fort Stage at Folk Festival 50 less than two months before the release of I and Love and You, stomping and hollering through a set of old and new songs."

Listen to the full concert here.