Photo Credit: Allen Halas
The Revivalists
Thursday night saw the return of Summerfest for its second week, and roots rockers The Revivalists helped kick off this week’s headlining acts at the Miller Lite Oasis. The New Orleans-based eight-piece haven’t played the festival in five years, and have only had one local appearance since. A lot has changed in that time, but the band maintained their energy, getting a relatively smaller but spirited crowd moving on a weeknight.
With eight components, including two drummers, a lap steel guitar and brass, there was no shortage of action on stage. That included vocalist David Shaw, who covered as much ground as possible at the Oasis, often favoring standing on the front speakers to get as close as possible to the Milwaukee crowd. The band dove in with fan favorite “You Said It All,” which bodes well for a singalong with its chorus. That set the tone for the night, as every song from the set had an element of human reverb to it, with loyal fans echoing lyrics back in unison. They would do so for the majority of the hour-long main set.
Aside from a glowing neon Revivalists logo in the background, there wasn’t much in the way of extra production on Thursday, and frankly, there didn’t need to be. Banter from Shaw was also fairly limited, because the music was the core of the experience, and everyone at the Miller Lite Oasis knew that. While The Revivalists are solid on record, the added element of being especially tight in the live setting takes their material to a new level. That’s not to say that the band weren’t enjoying themselves, either. The rhythm section clearly feeds off of one another, and lap steel guitarist Ed Williams interacted with the crowd as much as he could while sitting down. Shaw would also bring saxophonist Rob Ingraham to the front speakers for a big solo on “Celebration,” which energized the crowd even further, just before closing out the set.
Photo Credit: Allen Halas
The Revivalists
The core hour-long set was fairly true to the recorded version of The Revivalists in terms of song length. Occasionally, the band would jam on a section of cuts from 2014’s Men Amongst Mountains and follow-up Take Good Care, but there were plenty of crowd-pleasers to work into a tight hour of music. For their encore, though, things would get much looser. Three songs, “Hurricane Winslow,” “Catching Fireflies,” and breakout hit “Wish I Knew You” would stretch to over 20 minutes combined, as the band took especially lively sections of those selections for a walk, maximizing the most fun parts of the records. Naturally, the Oasis crowd ate up the party atmosphere, and grooved through the extended tracks into the warm Milwaukee night.
The Revivalists are a band best enjoyed in the live setting, and they demonstrated that on Thursday night. Moreso, they’ve tailored their set in a way that gives fans the absolute maximum from their show, and they’re able to deliver that night in and night out.
