"I'd have left that shit in Jersey and played for y'all acoustic"

Saw Needtobreathe again last night, this time here in NYC! It was at Bowery Ballroom, which I somehow had never been to before. I liked it! The acoustics weren't the best but that might have been a little to do with where I was standing. It's really not big at all, which made the fact that it was Needtobreathe's "biggest" NYC show to date a little weird seeing as they had just sold out the Chicago House of Blues and that was at least double the size and possibly closer to triple. But it's good they are getting a bigger following around these parts!

First up was Matt Hires, someone I had heard of but not really listened to. I did not really like him much. He kept singing about being rock 'n' roll and he really wasn't, he just played slow songs on an acoustic guitar. But he was cute at least!

Next up was Will Hoge, another person I have heard of and who is friends with lots of other people I am a fan of (SK6ers, Sister Hazel, Broussard, etc.). I've tried to get into his music and realized it just wasn't my thing aside from a few songs, but damn, was he good live! He had a band of three, including a guy on steel guitar and he just rocked it. Even his slower songs had more fire than the studio versions I've heard. I really enjoyed his set a lot. He had a great stage presence and just looked like kinda rugged Southern rock. He was funny when he was telling us how Needtobreathe brings out all the bells and whistles for their tour, even though it would be way easier not to. He's like "I'd have just left that shit in Jersey and played for y'all acoustic! Nah, I'm kidding, I'd have rented shit when I got here." Another awesome thing about Will is that he almost died in a motorcycle accident a little over a year ago and basically everything that could break, broke, yet he's back on a stage, hopping around in a military jacket and playing mean guitar. How can you not be on board with that?

Needtobreathe was essentially as kickass as I've come to expect. I had a nice spot right in front of Bo, which was a happy place to be because he's so smiley and always doing a little dance. The set was pretty much the same as Chicago, minus a song or two. The crowd was pretty into it, though not quite as much as there. During "Lay 'Em Down", Bear waited for the crowd to sing the last verse and it kind of didn't work and instead of coming in and singing it himself, he just let everyone flounder while he laughed. It really does feel like their set starts out rock, gets a little calmer in the middle and then goes kind of tent revival at the end. All the big singalongs are later in the set and I kind of like that progression, it builds up the energy in a good way. "Let Us Love" is definitely still my favorite live song of theirs, it's so much fun! "Washed by the Water" was a little different this time around. Since the venue was smaller than in Chicago, the band left the stage and went up to the balcony to perform it. Still unplugged and I could hear Bear's voice as clear as when he sang it right in front of me, which is pretty amazing. He had warned everyone not to sing along before he started, telling us his Mom had called him and heard he was "scolding" people for singing over him too early in the song, so everyone was pretty quiet and then when he did say to sing, no one actually did, so he stopped the song anyway and got everybody going. Something tells me Bear has a very specific idea of how he wants this song to go! It's very awesome though, even though the Chicago version is the one that's going to stick in my mind when I hear the song. This show was great and energetic and awesome, but something about that show made me like it just a little bit more. Love seeing them though and hope to again soon!