Photos by Marc Fong // Written by Molly Kish //

The Lumineers //
The Chapel – San Francisco
October 11th, 2012 //

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival just closed out its 12th year with more than 250,000 attendants, three days of music from a wide variety of globally recognized artists and some impeccable weather to boot at Warren Hellman’s annual event.

Focusing on the latest and greatest in contemporary and traditional country, rockabilly, soul, brass and any slight derivative of the genre, crowds spanned throughout the entire Hellman Hollows portion of Golden Gate Park for a full weekend of bluegrass bliss. One of the standout acts that brought a fully packed Rooster Stage to its collective feet was Denver folk quintet The Lumineers.

Production-wise, the band is known for their stripped-down, vocally saturated and exceptional acoustic performances. While this can be hard to do on bigger stages, they accomplished it with ease and they won the enthusiastic attention of a fully packed Saturday afternoon crowd.

Hailed by many as one of the weekend’s favorites, The Lumineers proved their sound and talent could transcend the difficulties present within the setting of a large-scale festival. Beyond allowing them to reach a whole different level of notoriety, it left many fans in anticipation for their next return to the Bay Area. Fortunately, I was able to catch it front an center during the soft opening of what is properly being referred to as “The Preservation Hall West” that’s officially called The Chapel.

The brand-new venue that’s still under construction and located in the heart of the Mission District in San Francisco is one with a particularly interesting backstory. Beyond being named after the official West Coast home of New Orleans’ own Preservation Hall Jazz Band, the building itself is a converted mortuary built in 1914. The stage, which played host to a slew of Hardly Strictly talent for the remainder of the weekend that included Elvis Costello, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller and Allison Moore, is sans an alter and directly in the middle of what used to be the resident chapel.

Now underneath 40-feet wooden beamed ceilings and surrounded by the barren walls, an incomplete venue sits with a stage elevated about eight feet above floor level. Because of all this, the room has a beautifully organic stereo quality. This scope of sound perfectly complemented the intimate nature of the private Lumineers show to close out the venue’s first full week of operation.

Right when I found out about this show, I jumped upon the opportunity to see them in such a gorgeous space. With a crowd maxing out at about a 120-person guest list, audience members were treated to a show most would only be lucky enough to catch in the context of a wedding or band’s debut performance.

Although a newer face in commercial radio, The Lumineers didn’t play an amateur show, highlighting material off their 2012 self-titled debut along with some acapella songs and a teaser of an unannounced track during the encore. Wesley Shultz’s humble presence as the group’s frontman charmingly absorbed the crowd while Jeremiah Fraite’s drums and Neyla Pekarek’s cello bled beautifully into perfect cohesion with their visceral backup vocals. Stelth Ulvang and Ben Wahamaki remained in the offstage areas, ducked behind the velvet curtains until their aid was needed on tracks featuring the piano, mandolin, accordion and bass.

The Lumineers’ sound, although self described as folk rock in the vein of traditional roots revival, is one that transcends a typecast amongst listeners. The crowd this evening, completely diverse in background and reason for attendance, hung on every lingering note, extended bridge and crowd participatory moment that was brought to the stage.

Whether languidly entranced, swaying back and forth to Shultz’s acapella crooning of “Dead Sea” or bursting with energy that saw him jump at the invitation to scream along the chorus of “Hey Ho”, the band decidedly made the evening an especially participatory experience for everyone in attendance. Shultz even went as far as to candidly suggest that everyone limit the recording to keep the evening as it was intended to be: a private moment to be shared between them and the audience.

The band ended by thanking everyone for their support through radio play and downloads. They cheekily added the casual reminder that said hits were part of a larger collection of music they were proud to share by purchasing their entire album. Constant discourse, hugs and sentimental moments shared through the band members’ playful nature and glances at each other resonated a relatable quality that The Lumineers have but amidst another setting could get lost in the moment.

The sound, personas and overall ambiance that The Lumineers brought to the deconstructed venue was perfect for the Preservation Hall West’s first week of performances. This intimate gathering worked as a seamless transition, but the scene was completely different than their incredibly impressive appearance at HSB 2012.