Jason Anderson opened up. In August Jason Anderson was sidelined for the Washougal motorcross but that didn’t stop him from playing tonight. He showed more passion in his singing than I see in most singer/songwriters. It was like the whole crowd knew him well only by hearing him strum his guitar and sing. He played songs about Halloween and New Hampshire (the song even mentioned Weirs Beach) what I didn’t realize until Strand of Oaks took the stage was that Jason Anderson is actually a member of Strand Of Oaks. Strand of Oaks is fronted by Tim Showalter which was originally his solo project. He combines southern folk with heavier progressive rock. Kind of like War on Drugs meets Dead Confederate. Strand of Oaks are perfect for fans of War On Drugs when they were still on an indie label. Showalter’s beard makes him look like a long haired Brent Burns. This has got to be his most psychedelic tour yet. They dedicated their song “Radio Kids” to The Modern Lovers which Tim said was the band that changed his life. Radio Kids is probably one of my favorite songs of 2017. For “Passing Out” it was just Tim and Jason on the stage. For “Same Emotion”, Tim started the song all by himself and then the rest of the band came out to join him. This was one of the most chill concerts I have been to in a long time. As part of the encore they covered Tom Perry’s “Learning To Fly”, they Jim the bassist sang. Unfortunately Jim’s mic volume was way too low and the vocals sounded like Garbled Tom Petty (as opposed to just Tom Petty). It was great to finally see this band. These guys come around a lot. They’ve probably been to the Boston area at least 3 or 4 times over the last year or two.

Strand Of Oaks setlist (I’m pretty sure):

Acid Kraut
Radio Kids
Shut In
On The Hill
Passing Out
Same Emotions
Plymouth
JM
Everything
Rest Of It
Learning To Fly (Tom Petty cover)
Goshin 97