The headliner of the night four of XX Merge was M. Ward, but he didn't close the night. He was the fourth of six bands. It was a bit odd and you'll also notice a lack of quality photos with this post because his tour manager put the kibosh on photos for his set. I did manage to snap a few crappy ones from the side during the encore though.Moving on to the music though, Matt and his band played a killer set of tunes spanning his albums and tossed in a few choice covers as well. He tackled Louis Armstrong's "I Get Ideas" and "Roll Over Beethoven" during the set in top fashion.
Ward's unique and superb guitar style shined during the set as did his somber, raspy vocals. His band is quite fantastic as well.
During the encore, he was joined on stage by his She & Him partner Zooey Deschanel who recreated her backing vocals on "Never Had Nobody Like You." She stuck around for the final song, which was a rousing cover of The Beatles' song "Birthday" in honor of Merge's birthday. It was a fitting close to a great set. Check out the complete set list below.
M. Ward set list:
Poor Boy, Minor Key
Poison Cup
Riverside
Fool Says
To Save Me
I Get Ideas
Vincent O'Brien
Big Boat
Fahey/Fisher of Men
To Go Home
Requiem
Chinese Translation
Roll Over Beethoven
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Never Had Nobody Like You (w/ Zooey Deschanel)
Birthday (Beatles cover w/ Zooey Deschanel)
2 comments:
I believe Ward actually cut "Rave On" from the encore even though it was on his list. Just my recollection, though.
he definitely cut Rave On. I would know because I was looking forward to this ever since I got my 5 day pass months ago. I was surprised that he didn't play it in the encore with She & Him on Sunday. It is outstanding!
(I love your blog, but if you want to maintain any cred, you can't claim that he played an awesome song when he didn't)
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