WHERE: The Sinclair – Cambridge, MA
WHEN: January 12, 2013
Howie Day has gone above and beyond the call of duty of your typical singer/songwriter. He forfeited the expected lo-fi bedroom practice antics for more polished and skylicking melodies. He might never escape the colossal magnitude of 2003’s “Collide,” off of his tumulteous sophomore record Stop All The World Now. But Day’s sophistication rests in not only his effortless charm, but his ability to tell vivid stories in complex (and heartbreaking) shades.
Selecting French Camp’s Owen Beverly as his lone opener spoke volumes. Beverly’s sweetness and deadpan humor was the perfect way to start off the evening. But without the power of a full backing band, Beverly was a little hard to follow.
Day didn’t have this dilemma as he stormed the stage with guns blazing. Of course he played tracks from his 2011 EP entitled Ceasefire, but fans were way more interested in hearing the mournful yelps from his material from over a decade ago. “Ghost,” with its gorgeous live minimalism, was just the tip of the iceberg. “She Says,” as well as “Sunday Morning Song,” “Brace Yourself,” and “Perfect Time of Day” were what onlookers feasted on the most. While “Collide” was not the last song in the lineup, it certainly made for the most audible sing-along moment. Day’s show, like all of the albums he’s produced, was sprawling, sheer fun–with speckles of spangled gloom thrown in for good measure.