Concert review: The Avett Brothers at the Cuban Club (pics + setlist)
July 21st, 2009 by btreotch in Concerts, News, Reviews(All photos by elawgrrl)
This past Saturday night, the Cuban Club Bandshell played host to a long awaited and twice-delayed show by the Avett Brothers. Once for the birth of Scott Avett’s daughter, the other due to a scheduling conflict as the North 
Carolina foursome opened for the Dave Mathews Band earlier in the summer. Accordingly, fans packed into the charmingly-neglected Cuban Club awaiting a trademark, knock-you-on-your-ass Avett Brothers’ performance — and they delivered.
The Avetts opened with a track from their upcoming release, I and Love and You (September 29, American Recordings) — “Laundry Room,” an entrancing song with a refrain I still can’t get out of my head. Then the band traversed through their entire catalog, with highlights that included “Distraction #74,” “Gimmeakiss,” “I and Love and You” and “Shame.”
As NPR’s Bob Boilen recently pointed out, Scott Avett sings as if he swallowed an amplifier. The long-haired, banjo thrashing hillbilly yells love songs at the top of his lungs. It’s a sweaty mess, but still ends up being captivating, raw and beautiful. The younger (and only other brother), Seth Avett, plays George to Scott’s John, Paul and Ringo, as the older Avett will sometimes take to the drum kit and keyboard. Often when drums are interspersed within a set, the music lacks punch and suffers inconsistencies — but the energy of Avetts made up for it. Not to mention the brothers, along with Bob Crawford on upright and electric bass and Joe Kwon on cello, pound the hell out of the back of their respective instruments. (Setlist and more after the jump…)
The 18-song set closed with the sing-a-long, fan favorite, “Salvation Song” off 2004’s Mignonette. Most of the crowd left happy and content after a three-song encore ended with the fitting “Four Thieves Gone,” but the gluttonous could be heard muttering “They still had 14 minutes they could have played.”
Saturday night also served as another reminder that the Cuban Club Bandshell doesn’t get nearly as much use as it should. It’s the red-headed stepchild to Jannus Landing. So now with Jannus Landing having some serious issues, hopefully Cuban Club can step up its game and become the mid-size outdoor venue that Tampa so desperately needs.
(For more photos by Nicole, check out her entire Avett Brothers set.)
SETLIST:
Avett Brothers, Cuban Club Bandshell, Ybor City, July 18th, 2009
Laundry Room, Paranoia in B-Flat Major, Distraction #74, Living of Love, Gimmeakiss, Pretty Girl from Raleigh, I and Love and You, Signs, Wanted Man, Dream Appointed, Talk on Indolence, Murder in the City, The Fall, Shame, A Gift for Melody Anne, Down With the Shine, The Perfect Space, Salvation Song
E: At the Beach, Kick Drum Heart, Four Thieves Gone
July 21st, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Nice review… Matt Butcher & The Revolvers were awesome as the opening act too… check out the photos from their set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elawgrrl/sets/72157621566123763/
July 21st, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Fabulous, my friend!
So glad I got to see them with you, FINALLY!!!!
July 21st, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Ah, I agree on the Avett Brothers putting on an amazing show…but The Cuban Club, underused? If that place never puts on a show again, I will consider it a victory for live music venues everywhere. Part of a live show is the competence of the people running the venue and this portion of the show on Saturday night was an epic fail.
I, along with a number of other people got into the show after waiting in not one, but two lines, for over 30 minutes. Once we got inside, the cash only bars were overwhelmed with lines halfway across the courtyard. If you were smart enough to go to the ATM before waiting in the line, you were quickly turned away, as the one ATM inside the venue, was broken. So, after a walk to the ATMs in Centro Ybor, we made our way back to the Cuban Club, only to wait in line for another 30 minutes, just to get a beer (as a side note, a huge reason we waited for so long was that the bartender was completely incompetent and spent waaaaay too long not only making drinks, but asking the people to taste them, adding ingredients, tasting again, etc.) and finally when we reached the front of the line we were told that they only had Heineken left, and there were only about 10 cold, luckily we were in the crowd that got four of the last cold ones. I feel really bad for the huge line of people behind me who were waiting to buy a cold beer, as the show was starting, only to realize they might have to buy one of the overpriced and questionable mixed drinks.
I am willing to look past one incident of a venue having a bad night, we all have bad nights. But to anyone who was at the Band of Horses show last April, you may have had a similar experience. Oversold show, rain delays, no one to be found to even confirm that the bands were ever going to play, basically, chaos.
But, the Avett Brothers were amazing. It almost made up for the crap venue, almost.
July 21st, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Even thought I puked my guts out later on in the night I didn’t leave the show once to buy a beer, so I didn’t have to endure the long lines. I knew there were some issues which is why I wrote that “hopefully (the) Cuban Club can step up its game”. Not sure if it’s the Cuban Club’s fault or the promoters. Whoever it was definitely knew they were fucking up.
July 21st, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I’m amazed that no one has mentioned the horrendous job done by the sound company!! The bass drum and bass were waaaaay to loud. It really hurt Matt Burcher’s set. Even the music between sets had the problem. Luckily, the Avetts didn’t use the drums much and also had a stand up bass that didn’t seem to suffer the same problem.
July 21st, 2009 at 5:51 pm
The lines and stuff were bad for sure. The venue is so sweet though, I think anyone who attended WMNF heatwave can attest to better service/lines at the cuban club, not to mention the best multilevel music venue in the state. Btreotch is right in claiming Tampa needs a solid, medium size venue and that CC fits the bill. Just get some more beer and sell it faster.