Wildfire Reviews: The Avett Brothers jam out CMAC on a Hot Summer's night, A+

Above: The Avett Brothers perform at CMAC on Wednesday, July 329th, 2015

'There's a lot of love underneath this big metal roof' proclaimed one of the Avett Brothers as the group tour through another tune. Last night, with temperatures soaring above 90 degrees, CMAC held one of the best concert line ups of the summer. The blistering heat didn't stop fans from dancing and swinging to the Avett Brothers and enjoying a wonderful night of acoustic and electric guitar from the opening bands.

There was one thing to some up last night concert at CMAC: it was HOT. As the CMAC crowd sat down and started filing int he seats underneath the pavilion, the shade provided little protection from the heat as it seemed to increase underneath the metal throughout as the night went on.
Despite this, everyone at CMAC had a fantastic time...including all the musicians. Every group proclaimed how great and beautiful the area was there were playing at that night, which was a nice thing to hear.

Madisen Ward & Mama Bear opened up the show, providing a great melady of acoustic guitar and singing. They were a perfect opener for this event, letting the crowd warm up to Shakey and the Avett Brothers. Mama Bear and her son, Madisen Ward, explained how they met the Avett Brothers at a local music festival where they lived and how quickly they became friends. It was good to hear the amount of respect the two groups had for each other.

As much as people wanted to party for the Avett Brothers, they were that many people interested in texas native Shakey Graves. His gnarly voice greeted the warm Upstate NY air in triumph, and people in the crowd watched with keene interest as he jammed during his set. Despite Esma Patterson not being with Shakey, he did a great job on 'Dearly Departed' and several other of his songs.
Like Madisen Ward & Mama Bear, Shakey Graves proved to be a perfect opener for the Avett Brothers despite being musically a bit different from the headliners. Shakey's sound sounded extremely raw but at the same time powerful and demanding with great potential from a younger Austin, TX boy.

The highlight of the night was of course the Avett Brothers. The heat wasn't going down at all, but the crowd got up, danced, clapped and sang their hearts out to everyone of their tunes nonetheless. Like every Avett Brother show, it was a great crowd and the crowd made the event.
The group was more energetic than ever, dancing and rocking out on stage. The Avett Brothers are musically fantastic because of how much respect they have for each other and how well each musician blends in with his partner aside him. Newcomer violinist Tania Elizabeth proved her own weight in the band with a haunting solo towards the middle of the set. The Avett Brothers are best when they harmonize together, especially when the two faithful brothers come up to the stage and sing 'When I drink' and 'Murder in the City.'
The seltist last night was exceptionally good, and the Avett Brothers sand everyone's favorite tunes including Head full of Doubt into Kickdrum Heart at the end. The group performed one cover that night but it completely was the right choice to be made as they played 'Thank God I'm a Country Boy' during the encore.
Although it was one of the hottest nights of the summer so far, The Avett Brothers at CMAC was one of the better concerts of the year. It was well worth battling the heat for.

A+

Setlist by the Avett Brothers at CMAC Wednesday, July 29th, 2015:

1) Satan Pulls the String

2) Live and Die

3) Laundry Room

4) I Killed Sally's Lover

5) Walking for You

6) Winter in My Heart

7) The D Bag Rag

8) Paranoia in Bd Major

9) Pretty girl from Feltre

10) Colorshow