The Avett Brothers 5.21.24 Westville Music Bowl

Words & Photos by Anthony Abu Hanna

Tuesday night concerts at Westville Music Bowl are can’t miss events. The Avett Brothers proved that was absolutely the case when they rolled in to town. Celebrating 23 years of being a band, and in support of their newest album – The Avett Brothers, the brothers, and their band, performed a barn burner of a show for their New Haven faithful.

Even after 23 years, the Brothers show no signs of slowing down. After a quiet vocal prelude, they jumped into an upbeat – almost relentless – rip of fan favorites including Live and Die, Satan Pulls the Strings, and Laundry Room. This night was a rare seated floor night at the Bowl and it was for naught. The Avett Brothers immediately had the crowd on their feet, with people swaying and dancing in the aisles and concourse of the Bowl.

The sun began to set over New Haven as the Brothers allowed for a slight reprieve digging into their vast catalog for some quiet ballads about love and family. After teasing the thousands in attendance with a chance to catch their collective breath, the band took us all down a Road Full of Promise, making us all feel like a Country Kid.

Nothing, though, could quite compare to the ferocity that is Kick Drum Heart. The thumping bass drum turned the entirety of the bowl into a party that was frenetically raising the energy and vibes of the evening.

But, if you asked me if I had The Avetts muppets on my 2024 bingo card, you would be sorely mistaken. Scott Avett reminisced about a time when the band was younger and music pundits compared them to muppets. Something the band took personally, that even though the pundits had nothing bad to say about the music – the puppet remark stuck with them. And that lead to the creation of The Avetts – three muppet like puppets that “performed” three songs near the end of the evening, including a guest appearance by them during Ain’t No Man to close out the evening.

Westville Bowl has a hard curfew of 10:00PM on weekdays, a fact the band chose to completely ignore as they launched into their three song encore to take everyone to the moon and safely back down to earth as the night reached its end.

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