I was at this show, All Them Witches at the Middle East Upstairs in Cambridge, MA. It was early February, there were four-foot snowbanks on either side of the road when you tried to park. The dude from local openers These Wild Plains had a man-bun, but The Well killed it, and All Them Witches, who had come through in the fall supporting Windhand, slid easily into the headliner slot. The place was packed. I had “Mountain” and “Charles William” and “Elk.Blood.Heart” stuck in my head for days. Days.

You won’t see it in the video, because the skillful hands of Treebeard Media — whose Stephen LoVerme and Erin Genett filmed and edited the full set — rightfully cut it out, but at several points between songs, some dude in the back kept yelling out the name of his band. Now, I won’t say the name of that band, because when dealing with small brains looking for attention it is important not to give that attention even in an admonishing way, but All Them Witches bassist/vocalist Michael Parks kept thinking someone was yelling “little bitch” at the band, and wondered out loud why someone was shouting it, if they were shouting it at the band or what. I don’t know if anyone ever mentioned that it was general, not-directed douchebaggery and not aimed at him, Ben McLeod (guitar), Allan Van Cleave (Fender Rhodes) or Robby Staebler (drums), but it seems worth pointing out. Ambient assholeism: A constant hassle.

The show was fantastic, despite. All Them Witches were fresh off recording their yet-untitled third album when they hit the road, and if there were any cobwebs, they didn’t show on stage as the Nashville four-piece ran through 55-minutes of quality jams taken, with the exception of “Elk.Blood.Heart,” from their second full-length, Lightning at the Door (review here). No new material, but the performance brimmed with a vitality and veered into and out of improv-sounding moments so smoothly that it gave a fresh take to familiar songs anyway. Here’s the setlist:

Funeral for a Great Drunken Bird
When God Comes Back
Jam
Mountain
The Death of Coyote Woman
The Marriage of Coyote Woman
Elk.Blood.Heart
Swallowed by the Sea
Charles William

With thanks to the band and to Treebeard Media, I’m happy today to host the premiere of the full-set video. Please find it below, and enjoy:

All Them Witches, Live at the Middle East, Feb. 6, 2015

All Them Witches on Thee Facebooks

All Them Witches on Bandcamp

Treebeard Media

Tags: All Them Witches, Nashville, Tennessee, The Middle East

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2015 at 11:18 am and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.