Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit soared at the Capitol Theatre with S.G. Goodman (pics, review)

Towards the end of their gig last Friday night at Port Chester’s Capitol Theatre (7/28), Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit put it all in perspective. Thanking the crowd, Isbell noted that while there is much in the world that isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, what happened in the room that night was. Over the course of his career, Isbell has chronicled his life in the business, precarious American social values, and loved ones lost and found, all through arrestingly immediate country songs. If the ceaseless tides of a life lived make playing onstage a privilege for Isbell, it’s one that he and his band don’t take for granted. Their set was a charge of some of the greatest songs he’s written over the last decade, all played like the moment is the only thing that matters.

The set was heavy on songs from this year’s Weathervanes, alongside other recent 400 Unit favorites and a chunk of Isbell’s 2013 solo record Southeastern in recognition of its 10th anniversary. Walking on stage, Isbell immediately ripped into the opening chords of “When We Were Close,” quickly following it with equally blistering takes on “Cumberland Gap” and “Save the World.” Subbing in Dominic Davis (Jack White) for Jimbo Hart on bass and adding Will Johnson (Centro-matic) to the group for additional percussion and guitar work, the band’s seismic sound remained intact, booming with every chord progression underscored in triplicate. The expanded rhythm section helped turn a quieter song like “Last of My Kind” into an easygoing guitar jam and lent “Death Wish” deeper menace with the strength of Johnson and Chad Gamble’s sharp, syncopated drum work. “King of Oklahoma” especially benefited from the extra muscle, making its massive chorus soar with full vocal harmonies and extended solos by Isbell and Sadler Vaden.

The band’s encore was a trio of songs that further put the night and songwriter in perspective: Something More Than Free classic “24 Frames,” then “If We Were Vampires” and “This Ain’t It.” The sequence represented the band’s nimbleness in its build from softer acoustic balladry towards hardy southern rock, but also the many modes of Isbell in lyric: the homespun sage, the fraught lover, the outlaw poet. If Isbell’s experiences have informed these songs’ frustrated characters and unruly emotions, the songs in turn have brought cathartic clarity to the truth in those experiences. That trade makes the songs and the moment in which they are performed so urgent to Isbell. He’s not telling stories in order to live, he’s making music to set the record straight.

See pictures from Friday night’s show by P Squared below.

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Following this past Saturday’s set at the Newport Folk Festival, the band will continue their tour tonight, July 31, with a return to New York to play the Paramount on Long Island. S.G. Goodman will continue to support them on tour.