The Head and the Heart on the Riverfront Park stage on Saturday night
Seattle indie folk/pop outfit The Head And The Heart graced the stage at Riverfront Park on Saturday night for a fun, career-spanning set that delighted the crowd of 2,500 that turned out for the concert.
Opening with the title track from the band’s 2022 album, “Every Shade of Blue,” violinist and singer Charity Rose Thielen quickly shared that it was the band’s first time in Harrisburg, and the other front persons, Jonathan Russell and Matt Gervais (who is married to Thielen), echoed throughout the night how glad they were to be here.
New tracks and old favorites alike, including “All We Ever Knew” and “Ghosts” from the band’s early releases, were welcomed by a crowd that sang along almost all night.
Frequently engaging in chatter between songs, the band took breaks to admire the moon and shout out to all the listeners on pontoon boats, and had glowing remarks for their tour mates who opened the show, Jonathan Peyton and his family of musicians, including his wife Abigail.
Russell, in particular, shared a lot of personal connection to songs, including his time writing “10,000 Weight in Gold” from the perspective of his own father often being absent for work, then realizing how much it rang true for himself as well.
Thielen’s harmonizing vocals on “Dreamer” really showcased her lovely alto voice that stood out so prominently in the band’s early albums, including their eponymous debut and “Let’s Be Still.” Her vocals shone again on “Tiebreaker,” which sounded amazing live.
The fan engagement was high, with the band inviting audience members into a “firefly moment” with a crowd full of cell phone lights during “Let’s Be Still,” followed by a raucous sing along during “Lost In My Mind.”
Gervais “drew the short straw” for the night and entertained the crowd with a solo number, “Everything Equals Out,” while the rest of the band took a brief break, sharing that he’s been working on this song for the better part of five or six years, but it hasn’t found a home on any albums yet. It was a lovely acoustic tune and showed off his tenor very well, and was a surprisingly sharp performance considering he’s never played it live before.
The band returned swiftly and kept the energy high with hits like “Honeybee,” “Missed Connection,” and their more recent track, “Virginia (Wind in the Night).”
A spirited and rich singalong of one of their folksier songs, “Down in the Valley,” followed, ending the band’s “scheduled” set before they returned for an encore that included a mesmerizing, “GTFU,” “Shake” and a stripped back but highly enjoyable rendition of my favorite song of theirs, “Rivers and Roads.”
Photos by Skye Leppo
SET LIST
Every Shade of Blue
Don’t Show Your Weakness
All We Ever Knew
Ghosts
Down in the Valley
10,000 Weight in Gold
Dreamer
Tiebreaker
Let’s Be Still
Lost in My Mind
Everything Equals Out (unreleased track, never performed live before)
Honeybee
Missed Connection
Virginia (Wind in the Night)
Down in the Valley
ENCORE
GTFU
Shake
Rivers and Roads
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