It was a night of harmonies and raucous strings as veteran folk act Trampled by Turtles brought their unique flair of enthusiasm, furious strumming, and frenetic energy to a packed Agora Theater on a chilly Thursday (December 12, 2024) evening.
The Last Revel opened! A full-string band just like Trampled by Turtles, their bluegrass sounds the perfect warm-up for the main show. They prepared the crowd well by lighting up some excellent banjo solos. They played some fast songs and a great slower song called “Sundown, Kick Around,” about relaxing and working in the garden together, drunk on wine. It sounded rather nice, especially with the cold winter night happening outside. Another highlight of their set was when the upright bassist Lauren Anderson covered “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” by Bob Dylan, bringing down the house with her rendition.
Trampled By Turtles took the stage and opened with “It’s So Hard to Hold On” from their most recent 2022 album, ‘Alpenglow.’ It’s not as fast-paced as some of the other songs, but it was a nice way to start the show and showcase the wonderful vocal harmonies between lead singer/guitarist Dave Simonett, bassist Tim Saxhaug, and banjoist Dave Carroll.
Then they kicked the pace up a notch with 2018’s “Annihilate,” giving some more space for the banjo and especially the fantastic fiddle work by Ryan Young. Young was one of the standouts throughout the evening. He would let loose with a ripping fiddle solo and almost double over on himself entirely as he bent down, his bow nearly touching the stage as it darted back and forth across the strings. You could swear he was going to start a fire it was moving so fast.
Each member got their moments to shine throughout the evening, however. There wasn’t a ball hog in the group. They harmonized well together, not just in the literal sense (which is true), but in the just as important sense of meshing well together on stage. There were moments when Simonett would look over at Dave Carroll in just as much awe as the audience, for instance, when you could tell these people enjoyed playing together.
They went on at the same pace for the first five songs, a slower song, and then one that was a bit more upbeat. It wasn’t until they played “Truck” that things started to get real crazy. It’s an instrumental that mainly featured Carroll’s impressive banjo skills. It’s also when the light show started to kick off, flashing all over the place in sync with the beat provided by Saxhaug’s bass and the stellar cello work of Eamonn McLain, both of whom made up for the lack of percussion.
That song marked the turn in the show for the songs that elevate Trampled by Turtles above the typical bluegrass band. The solos are amazing, the playing so face-melting that sometimes, it’s hard to look away. Songs like “Codeine” feature some of the most impressive string work you’ll see in any modern bluegrass band. However, what’s refreshing about Trampled by Turtles is that the show isn’t just an onslaught of string noise. They know how to control the tempo from song to song, giving the crowd time to breathe and slow down with some slower-paced songs before ramping back up again.
One song, “New Son/Burnt Iron,” written by mandolin player Erik Berry, did a bit of both. It seemed like it would be a bit slow and feature mostly just the mandolin at first, with an impressive solo and spotlight on Berry, his long locks blowing in the fan breeze. Then there was a pause, and just as the crowd started to cheer for the song, thinking it was over, the entire band lit up and went on a rampage. It was fantastic.
Then they slowed it down by playing “Wild Animals,” the crowd singing along with the “Oooo” refrain, before jumping off again with “Alone,” bringing out The Last Revel to help play and sing along. They closed out the set with another slow one, “Midnight on the Interstate.”
The first song for the encore was the Iris DeMent cover, “Our Town,” featured on their 2019 album,‘Sigourney Fever,‘ which is such a great song. Then they played “Whiskey,” a song about drinking away your troubles, which the crowd exploded for. Finally, they closed with a bang by playing the frenzied “Wait So Long,” showing off the full gamut of their instrumental abilities.
It’s hard to classify Trampled by Turtles. While all the ingredients to make the typical bluegrass band are there: cello, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, and so on; their sound and stage presence are their own, and they clearly have the roots of rock intertwined in their DNA. Regardless of where they fall exactly in the category, after seeing them live, it’s evident why they’ve persisted as a presence in the scene for over 20 years now and continue to do so.
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