The Avett Brother Folk Up Red Rocks: Review

The Avett Brothers — Scott, 49, and Seth, 44, along with a five piece band that includes a violinist, a cellist and a pianist — has been playing a three-night run annually at Red Rocks since 2014, and it's quite apparent the folk-rock outfit's investment in the venue has paid off. On Friday, July 11, the first night of this year's installment, the venue was filling up before the opener took the stage, despite wind and a bit of sprinkles.

The crowd skewed a bit older than the brothers themselves. Boomers and their broods took up much of the space at Red Rocks on Friday, Patagonia-clad in baseball caps with their teens or tots in tow, most having scored the black Avett Brothers at Red Rocks hoodies from the merch booth.
After a pretty but subdued set by Americana duo Watchhouse (songwriters Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz), backed by a three-piece band, the sold-out crowd was revved up to clap along with the Avetts. "Enjoy your marijuana in private," the video billboard flashed at the audience between a land acknowledgement and a Liquid Death advertisement. Many in the crowd did not.

When the seven touring members of the Avett Brothers took the stage, Bob Crawford on upright bass, Scott with his banjo, Seth picking at an acoustic guitar, with another guitarist, piano, violin, cello, and former Dashboard Confessional drummer Mike Marsh on the skins, it immediately became a clap-a-thon, hands above heads, as the band launched into "Laundry Room" from the 2009 album I and Love and You.
Scott and Seth's vocal harmonies and stringed pick-offs — sometimes between guitar and banjo, sometimes between two guitars — remain the highlight of Avett Brothers' shows. The two's lifetime of collaboration and harmonizing results in unforgettable integrations onstage.

This first night of three, the band's death meditation "No Hard Feelings" came out early, to some fans' audible surprise. But the set list was packed with favorites, from a bass/drums/vocals version of  "Ain't No Man" to Seth's hospital-room-penned ode to his son, "C-Sections and Railway Trestles," to the main-set-ending "I and Love and You."

Enjoy these photos from the show below: