The Lone Bellow
Bowery Ballroom
New York
December 31

The Lone Bellow are just one of those bands. The kind whose fans yell out “We love you!” during a show and mean it. The kind who so effortlessly create an immense sense of intimacy the moment they step on stage. Every song is life affirming; built to sing along to and dance to and smile to and cry to. They are, essentially, one of the most perfect bands to see on New Year’s Eve.

The last show The Lone Bellow played in New York City, at Webster Hall in late 2015, became an emotional affair after news broke of the attack at the Bataclan in Paris, which had occurred earlier that evening. Returning to their hometown for a three night run at the Bowery Ballroom to mark the end of 2016 and ring in the new year promised to be a much more celebratory occasion and if the final night was any indication, “celebration” doesn’t even begin to describe it. From the moment the band took the stage to the moment the house lights came up the energy in the room was electric, pulsating with an intensity that seemed to shake the Bowery Ballroom walls more than any music could. The band’s trio of vocals rang out stronger than ever on each song, but more often it was the power of the crowd joining in on the fun – dancing, stomping, screaming, and singing along – that gave the show special weight.

That’s not to say the band didn’t give it their all. The opening duo of “Diners,” off their last album Then Came the Morning, and “You Can Be All Kinds of Emotional,” off their self-titled debut, let the band start things off in their sweet spot, with Brian Elmquist’s lead guitar work being a standout in both songs; infusing his fiery licks with a new adventurousness. “Call to War,” where singer Zach Williams cedes vocal duties to the phenomenal Kanene Pipkin, continues to be one of The Lone Bellow’s standout tunes, while propulsive performances of “Bleeding Out,” “Then Came the Morning,” and live staple “Heaven Don’t Call Me Home” produced that sweaty, joyous, congregational feeling that rock and roll at its best has a habit of doing. As the clock approached midnight, Williams, Pipkin, and Elmquist gathered around a single microphone for the intimate, emotional “Watch Over Us,” the last notes of which seemed to magically ring out at the exact moment the clock struck 12. It was a cleansing moment to officially close out 2016, but the band had no intentions of stopping there, and after leading the audience in a sing-along of the traditional “Auld Lang Syne,” they unveiled another new tune, “May You Be Well,” which Williams dedicated to his daughter and which, after just one listen, might very well rank in the best of their catalogue.

To close out the evening, the band made their way into the crowd during the spiritual finale of “Teach Me to Know,” a move that, while it’s not the first time they’ve done this, seemed particularly fitting on this night, in this moment. Their own voices blended in with the voice of the audience, and to hear a group of people sing with their hearts in that way is to know the power of music. Whatever is to come in this new year, we are all in this together