Clad in loafers and heels, Orlando’s very own Austin Miller and Cayla Clifton delivered a fantastic six-song set to start the evening off on a wonderful note. While folkin’ ain’t easy, Miller proved that, if done well, it is possible to play subdued, acoustic guitar-based music, and still keep an audience’s full attention.
A majority of the gathered crowd never took their eyes and ears off of the pair, and Miller’s vocals often evoked the powerful, convicting, delivery of Kristian Matsson. When he wanted to tone it down, Clayton’s subtle banjo accompaniment played the perfect backdrop for his more quiet, Paleo-like, croon. The duo – who also happen to be an item – recently finished a tour of the Southeast, and with a combined age of 41, let’s hope these two have plenty more in the tank.
While Miller and Clayton kept it casual, it’s a good thing Ha Ha Tonka spruced up and wore cowboy boots to the show. The Springfield, Miss. quartet could have easily worn a hole through Backbooth’s wooden stage during their foot-stomping, nine-song set, and hailing from the Midwest, their harmony laden, electrified sound should definitely be classified as southern fried.
Bassist Lucas Long sported the sickest mustache/mullet combo this side of the Mississippi, and he (along with drummer Lennon Bone) provided the low end with their instruments and voices. Even though their sound played the perfect foil to the evening’s quiet tone, Ha Ha Tonka’s thick vocal harmonies were the highlight of their set. If your hairs didn’t stand on end when singer Brian Robert’s and his merry men went acapella on a four-man harmony, then you either needed to check your pulse or get the wax out of your ear canal.
Despite having openers who would kill a headlining slot, anticipation was still high for the man of the hour, and Rocky Votolato didn’t disappoint. Humbly walking on the stage at precisely 11 p.m., the 33-year-old led his fans on a short, 15-song journey that spanned a good portion of his decade old discography.
He kicked things off with poignant takes of “Fragments” and “Instruments” from last year’s True Devotion, but the first round of real cheers came when Votolato proclaimed that he would “do a couple from the Makers album.” Votolato recently told REAX that the album was his favorite, and he seemed just as pumped to play the four-year-old songs as the audience was to hear them.
He sang and picked through a majority of “Portland Is Leaving” with his eyes closed, and you could almost smell the rain-soaked flowers as he made his way through the vivid lyrics of “White Daisy Passing.” In fact, it’s Votolato’s earnest delivery of the words that made his performance memorable. Hearing him sing songs about some of the most troubling times of his life is simultaneously melancholy and unifying as evidenced by his performance of Makers’ title track. Whether the Seattle-based singer-songwriter is delivering the line “death keeps calling me” or describing “filling and refilling the glass full of Makers,” it’s very easy for the listener to relate to a man down on his luck, staring at a bottle of bourbon knowing that "heaven — or heavenless — we're all headed for the same sweet darkness."
Although some of his catalog touches on some very sad subjects, Votolato sounded best on Suicide Medicine’s standout, most infuriated tracks. Accompanied by Ha Ha Tonka’s Bone on the drum kit, “Every Red Cent” found him angrily spitting the line “I’ve got hate running through my veins/My blood runs like venom of a poisonous snake,” and the crowd was more than happy to have a gang sing-along during “Suicide Medicine.” His voice perfectly mirrored the record on the road-song, “Montana,” and the night’s best surprise came on “Alabaster,” which found his trademark vocal tremolo completely intact even after ten years of playing show, after show, after show. The show was clearly in full stride at this point of the set, but the thirteenth song of the set also proved to unluckily be the last one, too.
He kept the obligatory encore to just two songs, and the sentiment dutifully echoes Votolato’s vibe altogether. He’s man who’s been through the ringer, yet remains unafraid use song to recall dark times. It’s almost as if the tunes act as therapy and makes the title of the evening’s real last song – “Uppers Aren’t Necessary” – that much more apropos.
Rocky Votolato Setlist:
01. Fragments
02. Instrument
03. Portland Is Leaving
04. White Daisy Passing
05. Red River
06. Fool’s Gold
07. Tinfoil Hats
08. Alabaster
09. Every Red Cent
10. Goldfield
11. Makers
12. Suicide Medicine
13. Montana
14. Automatic Rifle
15. Uppers Aren’t Necessary
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