The exciting month of November 2024 continues. This time we packed our bags and headed to Copenhagen for the weekend to see Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. I was actually travelling by bus. It takes about 4,5 hours to go by bus from Gothenburg to Copenhagen, cheaper and more practical this time. Last time Oliver and I saw Jason Isbell was in Dublin in November 2022. Since then the studio album “Weathervanes” has been released (June 2023) containing new material, but also “Live from the Ryman, vol 2” (2024).
At around 8:30 pm, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit entered the stage in Falkonersalen and kicked off with Hope the High Road. It was followed by King of Oklahoma, from the latest album “Weathervanes”. It’s a song about a once proud and strong man, who has become trapped by addiction and he is watching his life and family falling apart. In my favourite line he misses the little things about his relationship with Molly that he used to take for granted.
“She used to wake me up with coffee every morning
And I’d hear her homemade house shoes slide across the floor
She used to make me feel like the king of Oklahoma
But nothing makes me feel like much of nothing anymore”
Strawberry Woman was up next and it was beautifully arranged with stunning an accordion from multitalented keyboardist Derrick DeBorja. After that Isbell returned to his electric guitar and play a supercharged Super 8, an old favorite from his breakthrough album “Southeastern”.
Isbell’s voice sounded as heartfelt, genuine and honest as ever. It fits perfectly for his introspective lyrics, It manages to strike a balance between melancholy and optimism, and it allows us in the audience to feel the sorrow and the hope in the songs. Often the songs start by him singing by himself, before the rest of the band gradually join in. The song Live Oak is a good example of that.
The main set closed with four straight classics – Stockholm, If We Were Vampires (my own personal favourite and probably his best known song), a magnificent version of Miles featuring multiple false endings an extended coda and sensational guitar work from both Isbell and his longtime bandmate Sadler Vaden and Cover Me Up, a deeply personal and raw song. It’s primarily about love, redemption, and Isbell’s journey to sobriety. The biggest roar of the night from the audience came when Isbell sang “I sobered up and swore off that stuff, forever this time.”
As an encore, the band first played 24 Frames and then closed with a twin punch from Weathervanes – the aching beauty of the acoustic Cast Iron Skillet and a roaring This Ain’t It which allowed Isbell to perform another fierce guitar sequence with bandmate Vaden making the song about 10 minutes long before the band took their bows and left.
The concert was all I had hoped for, a solid rock concert, where the music did the talking, as opposed to our latest experience in Brussels and the London Grammar concert, where the focus was more on the lighting and special effects. Isbell’s set was almost two hours long and 19 songs were played (7 from the latest album).
Setlist
Hope the High Road
King of Oklahoma
Strawberry Woman
Traveling Alone
Death Wish
Live Oak
Alabama Pines
Elephant
Something More Than Free
Super 8
White Beretta
Overseas
Stockholm
If We Were Vampires
Miles
Cover Me Up
Encore:
24 Frames
Cast Iron Skillet
This Ain’t It
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