I woke up with a slight case of depression on Sunday morning. After scrolling through a few pictures from the night before and humming the tune of “Dead Sea,” I realized the root of my depression: The Lumineers. The folk band came to San Diego to perform a sold-out show at the San Diego House of Blues and it was apparently so good that it left me depressed, if only for a few of hours.
Shortly after opening act Bad Weather California ended its set, the Denver-based Lumineers started the main event with the up- tempo “Submarines.” The original trio made up of Wesley Schultz, Jeremiah Fraites and Neyla Pekarek was joined by new members, Stelth Ulvang and Ben Wahamaki, to warm up the crowd before going into sing-along fan favorites, “Big Parade” and “Classy Girls.”
Midway through the set, Fraites teased the audience by walking around on stage clapping his tambourine to the familiar tune of “Ho Hey.” After the band shouted the first “Ho” a crazy surge of shouting and foot stomping took control the next three minutes. There couldn’t have been one person in the whole joint that wasn’t clapping and singing that sweet, easy tune.
Before powering into a personal favorite, “Stubborn Love,” Schultz thanked the audience for clearly knowing the entire album and not just the one song conquering the radio and TV commercials. Some songs sound great on the record, but others need to be heard live. You
haven’t listened to “Stubborn Love” until you’ve seen it performed from the middle of a pit of people, 10 feet away from the band. This song sent electricity through the audience and the House of Blues’ fairly intimate venue couldn’t handle the amount of dancing bodies inadvertently pushing each other between shouts of “ohs” and “ayes.”
The Lumineers brought the second song of the encore into the audience. Standing on top of a moving box contraption, Schultz said there were only three rules: be quiet, put away your phones and make room for the band to pass by. With that, The Lumineers played “Darlene” to a quiet yet excited crowd, adding authenticity to the performance as the band members laughed and fumbled around the audience, appearing to enjoy the night just as much as the crowd.
The band transitioned back on for the final song, bringing Bad Weather California and a couple of friends up to sing one of the ultimate sing-along songs: “The Weight” by The Band. The camaraderie on stage was palpable during the whole show, but it was heightened during this last song.
During any truly great concert, the final song is when that short- term depression starts to seep in because we know after this last song, we’d leave with high but little hope of extending the excitement into the night and into our lives. But wherever we went after, The Lumineers made sure the audience remembered the pure fun and excitement of that sweet Saturday night.
