Reviewed on Friday August 12
Punch Brothers sure know how to put on a charismatic performance. Led by the outlandishly talented Chris Thile – he who shall take over the reins from Garrison Keillor in October when the Prairie Home Companion hosts steps down after 42 years – these gentlemen are each so freakishly skilled that even those who might ordinarily never listen to bluegrass would walk away from their show dazzled.
Indeed, Punch Brothers were able to draw such engagement and enjoyment from me that I immediately plunged into sickness the very next day; implying that yes, the US musicians are in fact vampires.
It’s worth noting that while I’ve been known to kick back and wile away the hours listening to bluegrass (or nu-bluegrass, or progressive bluegrass, or whatever other moniker it gets lassoed with today), I was mostly unfamiliar with Punch Brothers. Many musicians whose opinion I trust have raved about them over the years, and there seemed to be every indication that these were musicians entirely at the top of their game.
But save for the exceptional song ‘The Blind Leaving The Blind’, until recently they were a bit of a mystery to me. Having since interviewed guitarist Chris Eldridge, I’ve come to know them much better, and the rumours are all true. They’re superb players, absolutely, but they’re also just so much damned fun.
Thile in particular has a grinning elasticity reminiscent of Jude Law, and he twisted on the spot like a stalk of corn in the breeze. The man has one hell of a voice (even his falsetto has impressive range), and if you hand him a mandolin you’ll never look at the instrument the same way again. The band’s stagecraft was superb, rounded out with Noam Pikelny on banjo, Gabe Witcher on fiddle, and Paul Kowert on double bass (Kowert was the only member who seemed less at ease with the audience, mostly keeping to himself and shying away from attention).
That said, there were occasions where you found your attention starting to drift – ironically in the more uptempo numbers. That may well be a symptom of hearing such music while confined to chairs rather than dancing up a gale, but the setlist was constructed with such finesse that you were never lost for very long. Highlight? ‘Another New World’ left me utterly awestruck.
Listening to Punch Brothers at home is one thing; seeing them in the flesh is an entirely different, thrilling beast. Catch them however you can.
