The Lumineers perform at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Sunday, April 14, 2013. (Charlotte Bray/Freelance photographer)
The Lumineers like singalongs.
They tried to start off with some audience participation in the first song after their stage entrance, but the crowd wasn’t quite there yet, at least not in the area I was standing.
Thankfully, things improved quickly. By the time they reached “Stubborn Love” near the end of the set, the audience was more than happy to oblige lead singer Wesley Schultz’s prompts: Sing louder! Now quieter!
Even if you don’t know the Lumineers, you know one of their songs, I can almost guarantee it. “Ho Hey” has been hard to avoid if you have any electronic media device. But if that’s all you know about the Lumineers, you’re missing out. They make some great music. And they use a dobro. I love that some of the more traditionally folk and bluegrass instruments are making their way more and more into the mainstream.
They dispatched with their most widely known tune with the third song of their late afternoon main stage set. I thought the crowd might drift away, especially since things slowed down for a few songs. But no, a throng stuck around until the end.
Schultz noticed, thanking the audience and saying “I wasn’t sure how many people were going to show up for our set.”
I love it when artists are genuinely awed by playing at Coachella. The Lumineers seemed to be in that category, with Schultz remarking near the end that he thought it was the biggest crowd they’d ever played to.
An interesting note: They played one song off an as-yet-untitled album that’s upcoming, with cellist Neyla Pekarek sharing lead vocals. The vibe seemed a little different from the stuff on their debut album. It’ll be interesting to see what they come up with next.