The much-acclaimed, multi-Grammy Award-winning Americana singer-guitarist delivered a nearly two-hour set at Meijer Gardens exploring his 30-year, genre-bending career on Monday. Review, photos.
‘True Believer’: Jason Isbell regaled plenty of those at Meijer Gardens on Monday. (Photo/Joshua Tufts)
SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTO GALLERY, SET LIST
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Writers are drawn to writers, so it’s no wonder Jason Isbell is such a hit with music critics of all stripes.
But the Southern rock/Americana/folk/alt-country artist’s commercial success also demonstrates a more broad desire for authentic storytelling, with songs that are populated by three-dimensional characters who lead complex lives and wrestle with specific-but-universal joys and challenges.
While mainstream country radio is dominated by pablum, pandering, flat caricatures of the “average American” and “Southern guy/girl,” Isbell fills seats and sells records by exploring the darker, more nuanced aspects of familiar themes such as love, loss, sobriety and masculinity.
Isbell certainly filled the seats Monday evening when he returned to Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park for the venue’s popular summer concert series. The marquee performance — which was sans opener — clocked in just shy of two hours and was delivered in the midst of an ongoing Midwest heat wave that muted the crowd’s energy. but did little to dampen their appreciation.
Offering up more than 20 songs spanning an extensive career, Isbell and the superlative 400 Unit — including badass Australian bassist Anna Butterss — hit a fair number (but certainly not all) of the artist’s more-loved songs, including “24 Frames,” “Super 8,” “Cast Iron Skillet” and the literal and figurative showstopper/closer “King of Oklahoma.”
Other highlights included an impeccable “Miles” (if you want to savor some outstanding writing, pull up the lyrics to that track and prepare to weep) and a dip into Isbell’s Drive-by Truckers era for “Decoration Day.”
Missed the show? Isbell performs Thursday (June 26) at Fox Theatre in Detroit.
UP NEXT AT MEIJER GARDENS: Wynonna Judd and Sam Stoane perform at 7 p.m. Wednesday (June 25). Tickets are $78 to $80, available online here.
PHOTO GALLERY: Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit at Meijer Gardens
Photos by Joshua Tufts
SET LIST: Jason Isbell at Meijer Gardens
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