Jason Isbell is back on the road, this time kicking off his solo tour with a sold-out performance at Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre.
Jason Isbell has to be one of the hardest working guys in music. Having recently finished an extensive tour with his band the 400 Unit, he is now embarking on a solo, acoustic tour. This tour is in support of Isbell’s upcoming solo album, Foxes in the Snow, which is set for release on March 7. Since the new album isn’t actually out yet, and only two singles have been released so far, you’d be excused for thinking that only a small selection of the new songs would be performed during this 90-minute set. But this was not the case. Instead, the majority of the set comprised of songs from the upcoming release. Often, an artist can lose the attention of an audience if they perform a number of songs that have never been heard before, but this was definitely not the case here. Instead, the sold-out crowd were transfixed by each new song, enjoying getting a sneak peak of the new album and analyzing the lyrics.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again – it takes a certain caliber of musician to be able to step up onto a stage alone and entertain an audience for an entire set. A singer-songwriter like Isbell, however, makes it look like a piece of cake. He looked totally at ease as he sat in the middle of the ample-sized stage, armed only with his trusty acoustic guitar (although there were a number of them), and a huge smile throughout the night. In between each of the songs, he would chat to the audience, giving anecdotes and funny stories such as apologizing to John Prine for ripping off one of his songs.
This tour is not allowing any cellphone usage, which made it a pleasure to enjoy! Everyone got to be in the moment, listening to the music and lyrics, with the added bonus that they didn’t have their view of the stage blocked by someone capturing video for posterity which they will likely never watch again.
This tour is tagged as “An Evening with Jason Isbell,” meaning that there is no opener so make sure you get yourself along on time for the start of these shows. It’s straight down to business with 90-minutes of the man himself. Isbell did joke that the tour was originally called “An Intimate Evening with…” which felt weird, but, it has to be said that despite the size of the venue, the show definitely had an intimate feel to it.
The solo tour runs until the end of March. He will then be hitting the road with the 400 Unit in April. If you want to catch him live, you have absolutely no excuse for not being able to do so.
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