Needtobreathe Setlist

Feet, Don’t Fail Me Now
Oh, Carolina
Difference Maker
Wanted Man
Float On
(Modest Mouse cover)
Drive All Night
State I’m In
Girl Named Tennessee
Washed by the Water
Keep Your Eyes Open
Something Beautiful
Wasteland
Multiplied
Brother
(off-mic)

— Encore —
The Heart
The Outsiders
— Encore 2 —
More Heart, Less Attack
(unplugged)

Tour Dates

06/17/14 Buffalo, NY The Town Ballroom
06/19/14 Toronto, ON Danforth Music Hall
06/20/14 Detroit, MI Fillmore Detroit
06/21/14 Frederik Meijer Gardens
06/25/14 Creation Northeast
08/16/14 Downpour Music Festival
08/20/14 Knoxville, TN Tennessee Theatre
08/21/14 Knoxville, TN Tennessee Theatre
08/22/14 Charlotte, NC Uptown Amphitheatre
08/24/14 Durham, NC DPAC
09/04/14 Austin, TX Austin Music Hall
09/05/14 Houston, TX Bayou Music Center
09/06/14 Dallas, TX South Side Ballroom
09/08/14 Baton Rouge, LA Baton Rouge River Ctr
09/09/14 Memphis, TN Orpheum Theatre
09/11/14 Birmingham, AL Alabama Theatre
09/13/14 Whites Creek, TN Woods At Fontanel
09/14/14 Lexington, KY Singletary Center
09/16/14 Norfolk, VA NorVa
09/18/14 North Charleston Perf. Arts Center
09/19/14 Clemson, SC Littlejohn Coliseum
09/22/14 Silver Spring, MD Fillmore Silver Spring
09/24/14 Phila, PA Theatre Of The Living Arts
09/25/14 Phila, PA Theatre Of The Living Arts
09/26/14 Boston, MA House Of Blues Boston
09/27/14 New York, NY Best Buy Theater

Sometimes good music just naturally transcends genres and categories.

That seems to be the case with South Carolina band, Needtobreathe, who recently released their fifth album, Rivers in the Wasteland (Atlantic/Curb/Word Records) and is out on the road promoting it with an extended tour that came to the Skyway Theatre in Minneapolis.

The band, led by brothers Bear and Bo Rinehart and bassist Seth Bolt, exhibits a passion in everything they do and their songwriting toes the line between the secular and sacred in themes, which has led to growing success on both the alternative rock and Christian charts.

The recent documentary, Prove the Poets Wrong (avail. on YouTube and airing on Palladia) compellingly documented the band’s internal struggles (including family feuding and their decade-long drummer leaving) and the eventual catharsis that was the new album, and their live show revealed a reborn joy of redemption from emerging out the other side, stronger as artists and extended family.

Northern Irish singer-songwriter Foy Vance opened the evening with a heartfelt solo set of working class songs, mixed with his unique and directly honest hilarious stories and commentary. Joy of Nothing (Glassnote Records) is Vance’s latest and second full-length and was well represented during his 45 min. set, starting with the set and album opener, ‘Closed Hand, Full of Friends’. Vance must have been told to curb some language, as he had to hold himself back with his stories, vs. the no-holds-barred tales we heard, when we heard him last fall.

Vance tried mid-set to sing off-mic (to no avail), called out a heckler, asked aloud why there was talking during his songs, and ended his set with the album closing ‘Guiding Light’, which had the crowd singing the chorus back to him, even after he had left the stage, gaining plenty of new fans in the process.

Needtobreathe then took to a stage framed by teepees and backed by diamond-shaped light rigs for a 100 min. set starting with the stomping ‘Feet, Don’t Fail Me Now’, from the new album. Lead singer Bear Rinehart took the center spot in a wide-brimmed hat and rolled up sleeves, while his brother Bo hopped about on guitar to his right and bassist Bolt steadily paced and kept time to his left, with drum and keyboard support behind them. ‘Oh, Carolina’, an ode to their home state, quickly followed, with singer Rinehart promising the multi-generational crowd, “I think you’re going to leave here sweaty, no matter what happens.”

The band has a classic Southern rock sound, tempered by its lyrics of faith, and has the uncommon ability to connect with listeners young and old. ‘Difference Maker’ slowed things for a bit, then ‘Wanted Man’ kicked it up again, seguing briefly and cleverly into the chorus of Modest Mouse’s ‘Float On’. Christian fans of all ages held their hands up to the sky on songs like the new anthemic ‘Multiplied’ with its lyrics of “May this offering stretch across the skies, and these Hallelujahs be multiplied.”

Particularly poignant was the main set closing, ‘Brother’, an off-mic version of “a love song” written from one sibling to another, out of the ashes of the struggles they faced regrouping to make the new record. The encore started with River in the Wasteland’s lead single, ‘The Heart’ and followed by the title track of previous album, ‘The Outsiders’, with some jumpy banjo by an equally jumpy Bo Rinehart.

The band returned for a second encore, a stark and stripped version of the album closing ‘More Heart, Less Attack’, done unplugged with muted lightning and band members huddled around a central single microphone.

And with that, everyone left the building- young and old, Rock and Christian fans, from all walks of life; transcended you might say, by the impactful performance just witnessed.