Boston Rocks Out With Lord Huron

Anna Cieslik ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Editor

Lord Huron stopped by Boston last week to play a sold-out show at the Royale and there was only one way to describe the atmosphere: fun. Despite the frigid temperatures and threat of snow looming on the horizon, Bostonians came out in droves to let loose and dance a little (or a lot) with the LA indie folk band. The result? A packed dance floor of fans young and old swaying and singing to Lord Huron’s happy tunes.

Before Lord Huron even took the stage, opening band Night Moves set the tone for the show thanks to their welcoming brand of Midwest indie. Their music perfectly complimented Lord Huron’s following set, but it was still different enough that it never felt as though Night Moves was a carbon copy of the headliner. Songs like “Country Queen” and “Colored Emotions” drifted over the crowd, swaddling everyone inside the Royale in a cloud of synth-tinged indie with a hint of folk. Night Moves provided the perfect soundtrack as concertgoers wandered into the venue and found their spot in the crowd, excited for the rest of the night.

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Following an introduction from none other than Newport Folk Festival producer Jay Sweet himself, Lord Huron took the stage and was greeted with a burst of claps, shouts, and cheers from the excited crowd. With the first strum of lead singer and guitarist Ben Schneider’s guitar, the excited audience dissolved into a mass of dancing bodies. Everyone from the young college couples in the crowd to the old man sitting next to me on the side of the stage started to get up and move, thanks to Lord Huron’s happy and upbeat opening tracks.

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As the show progressed, the band wove a few of their slower ballads into the set, but that didn’t put an end to the audience’s uncontainable excitement. Even when Lord Huron began to play their melancholy tune “Ends of the Earth,” they still managed to elicit a response from the crowd. And while the music was great and the acoustics were prime, that undeniable connection between the band and their fans was perhaps the greatest part of the show. There was a moment when I was standing up in the balcony of the Royale looking down on the dance floor below me and I noticed there didn’t seem to be a single body standing still. It takes a lot to get this overwhelmingly positive reaction from an entire crowd as big as this one, but Lord Huron no doubt succeeded in this monumental task.

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I was looking forward to this concert the minute it was announced, but Lord Huron went above and beyond my expectations last week with their show. While they won’t be back in Boston for some time, the band is still on tour and they’re making their way through the South, Southwest, and eventually the West Coast for all of our cross-country readers. You can also check their music out online if you don’t get the chance to see them live this time around.