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Review & Setlist: Lake Street Dive proves they’re ‘Good Together’ at Boston concert
Originally formed in 2004 at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, the band returned to the city to perform at MGM Music Hall Friday night.
Lake Street Dive returned to their roots at the band’s Friday night concert at MGM Music Hall in Fenway.
Lake Street Dive — composed of vocalist Rachael Price, bassist Bridget Kearney, drummer Mike Calabrese, keyboardist Akie Bermiss, and guitarist James Cornelison — met in Calabrese’s home studio in Vermont in 2023 and spent nearly a week generating new songs for the band’s eighth full-length album “Good Together” which became the tour’s namesake soon after.
Originally formed in 2004 at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, the band members knew they wanted to create music together, but struggled to find a genre that suited them, experimenting with motown, pop, jazz, and R&B in its early years.
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Friday night’s show proved that 20 years later, in the city where it all started, the genre-defying band had perfected its unique sound.
“When I think back to those years that we played in Boston … if that had gone on for years and years and years I think we still would’ve been pretty happy,” lead singer Price, who moved to Boston when she was 17, told the crowd. “But I’m really happy we’re here with 5,000 people tonight. That’s also pretty nice.”
Calabrese put it simply: “It’s good to be back.”
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The show started at eight on the dot when the opener Trousdale came onstage, wearing bright, monochrome outfits that matched the stage’s ever-changing lightshow. Trousdale performed a collection of their original folk music before playing a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s famed song “The Chain,” joking that they wrote the song themselves.
The Los Angeles-based group laid the groundwork for what was to come, playing songs in a style that emulated Lake Street Dive’s, but with a calmer, more country twang.
After a short break following Trousdale’s performance, Lake Street Dive came on at 9:10 p.m., captivating the audience with their impressive vocals amplified by a grooving horn section.
The Huntertones, known for their “high energy, horn-driven sound,” joined Lake Street Dive onstage, playing the trombone, trumpet, and saxophone, that blended with the band’s revolving array of instruments, including drums, bongos, auxiliary percussion, electric and acoustic guitars, and upright bass.
The two bands’ musical talent matched their equally spectacular stage presence. Price walked into the audience as she sang “Dance With a Stranger.” And during “Hypotheticals,” one of Lake Street Dive’s top songs, Price invited the crowd to sing along, prompting a call and response chant to the song’s iconic lyrics, “hypothetically yes, theoretically forever.”
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The band’s live performance blew their pre-recorded tracks out of the water. Lake Street Dive’s energetic production got the crowd moving throughout the entertaining show, making for an enjoyable experience for anyone from a diehard fan to a newcomer.
Performing against the backdrop of a brightly colored arch pulsing to the beat of the music, the two groups performed a seemingly flawless assembly of songs, as the crowd welcomed and encouraged instrumental interludes on the trumpet, bongos, melodica, tambourine, and triangle — to name a few. From a relaxed rendition of “Better Than” to an upbeat “Party on the Roof,” the band kept the audience engaged and showcased Lake Street Dive’s stunning range.
The night ended with an encore acoustic cover of the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way,” before the group lined up and held hands as they took a bow.
Lake Street Dive’s Boston stop on its Good Together tour was no doubt a full-circle moment for the group.
Ahead of singing “Twenty-Five,” a slow song accompanied only by the piano, Price reminisced about her years spent in Boston when the band first formed.
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“I’ll let you know that many of my formative years were spent here,” she said.
Price recalled some places that stirred up old memories for her.
“The number 1 bus, I don’t know why, I feel such nostalgia,” she said. “I almost got on it today. Just wanted to take it down Mass Ave. It makes me feel things.”
Price continued: “Sometimes when you revisit these places in your memory or your life, you get little feelings of bitterness sometimes about things that may have been, but I’ve been enjoying the feeling of softness, of just feeling like that was so great that happened,” she said. “So great that it ended.”
Setlist for Lake Street Dive at MGM Music Hall in Boston on Dec. 13, 2024
Good Together
Far Gone
Better Not Tell You
Hypotheticals
Seats at the Bar
Get Around
Better Than
Baby, Don’t Leave Me Alone With My Thoughts
Making Do
Party on the Roof
Bad Self Portraits
Side Pony
Call Off Your Dogs
Help Is On the Way
You’re Still the One
Twenty-Five
Walking Uphill
Dance With a Stranger
You Go Down Smooth
Encore
I Want It That Way (Backstreet Boys cover)
Good Kisser
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