Fleet Foxes Captivate with Harmonies, Tight Musicianship and Stage Banter

Shows don’t always leave me with my jaw dropped at the end of the night, as much as I love live music and always enjoy myself. It takes a little something more to put the show over the edge for me.

After seeing Fleet Foxes on Sunday at DAR Constitution Hall, I was completely blown away. In addition to their flawless vocals, Robin Pecknold’s melodic acoustic guitar playing and the entertaining stage banter, the band had such a full, orchestral sound that was even more epic in concert.

Constitution Hall, a 3,700-capacity theater, had great acoustics, perfect for a band like Fleet Foxes. Their sound is a modern take on folk music, with dominant acoustic guitars, mandolin, organ and stellar vocal harmonies reminiscent of Crosby, Still and Nash.

The band’s sound really came to life in concert. Peckhold’s captivating finger-picked guitar playing was perfect, and there wasn’t a single sour note all night in his guitar playing or his adventurous vocals. When he and two or three other band members joined together to sing vocal harmonies a cappella, it was so quiet you literally could have heard a pin drop. I turned my phone on vibrate the first time I noticed because I would have been mortified if I had tarnished such a beautiful moment.

Other than Pecknold and drummer Joshua Tillman, the rest of the six-piece band switched instruments all night, practically every song. One member played mandolin and organ, another played guitar, bass and mandolin, another played guitar and bass, and another played upright bass, guitar, percussion and saxophone.

As band members tuned between songs, the band’s commentary made the downtime pretty entertaining. By keeping jokes about tuning going all night (Tillman saying they should get jumbo trons for tuning, Pecknold saying ‘I’ll tune you a song’) it got to the point where the crowd enthusiastically cheered for tuning. 

Having six members on stage makes it easy to build up a large sound, but I must say that one of the biggest contributors to the largeness of the band’s sound – outside of the vocals and dynamics – was the drumming and the lack of drumming. Tillman’s playing was as important as when he wasn’t playing. When coming up from a part with no drums, he’d come in with epic tom hits and cymbal crashes. He never really played a beat or held down a groove as much as he added another layer of texture to the music.

I can see why Mojo Magazine voted Fleet Foxes the best live band in 2009. If you can’t catch them on this tour, I highly recommend checking out their studio recordings.