Lumineers shine on a steamy Star Lake night

BURGETTSTOWN − The hardest working musical instrument on tour these days?

Here's a vote for the kick drum of The Lumineers' Jeremiah Fraites.

That drum took a beating Wednesday at The Pavilion at Star Lake, bringing the propulsive stomp that's the backbone to The Lumineers' crowd-pleasing Americana-indie-rock.

A Burgettstown crowd of more than 12,000 got treated to a top-notch sound balance, for the most part.

Singer Wesley Schultz's vocals rang out crisp, clear and at a perfect volume. A lengthy note he held in "Dead Sea" spawned an audience cheer he acknowledged with a tip of his taupe Western hat. Stelth Ulvang's piano and accordion and Brandon Miller's guitar, mandolin and auxiliary percussion tastefully added to the mix.

But while Lauren Jacobson's piano work enhanced the energy, her violin was turned down way too low, which seemed like a lost opportunity.

Though that's my lone gripe about a performance where the band connected with, and thoroughly captivated, its audience.

Lumineers fans didn't need to be told to illuminate their cellphone flashlights during "Slow It Down." A pack of fans in the center of the pavilion's lawn instinctively figured out the timing was right, and soon the sight of lit-up phones spread through the venue like wildfire.

The Lumineers launched the two-dozen song set effectively with "Brightside," the lead single from the Colorado-bred band's fourth studio album released in January. That slower song set the tone Wednesday for Fraites' drum thumps and Schultz's emotional singing and guitar jangling.

As usual, The Lumineers didn't wait long − specifically song No. 3 − to trot out their biggest hit, 2012's breakout "Ho Hey." First, the band strode to a small stage that jutted a dozen rows into the crowd. Then armed with mandolin, a couple tambourines and acoustic guitar, they formed a tight circle and engagingly played that folky song, with fans singing alone on one verse, and shouting the necessary "ho!" and "hey!" parts.

Another call-and-response between band and fans enlivened "A.M. Radio," which brought more of Fraites' kick drum stomps.

Maybe the coolest thing about a Lumineers show is how each bandmate plays multiple instrumentalist, and the assignments of who's-playing-what switches with every song.

By my count, four of the six Lumineers − including co-founders Schultz and Fraites − played piano at some point. The funniest moment came amid "Gloria," when Jacobson was lead pianist, as Ulvang added extra piano plunks before signaling to Miller to toss him a drum stick, which Ulvang promptly began using to percussively bash the top of his piano.

Soon after, Ulvang tossed aside his stool and danced barefoot atop his piano.

"Charlie Boy" was blessed by upright bass plucks from Byron Isaacs. Schultz roamed through the audience, reaching the hands of second-level fans during "Never Really Mine." That always fun "Oh, Ophelia" lyrical hook hiked up the joy in the jaunty "Ophelia."

"Leader of The Landslide" segued nicely into the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want."

Schultz asked the crowd if they were Tom Petty fans, welcoming opening act Caamp back on stage to join the Lumineers on a deep-cut Petty tune, "Walls," laden in accordion. I admire them for not picking a super obvious Petty tune, like "American Girl." Though maybe a good compromise might have been a mid-level Petty hit, like "Even The Losers."

The most emotional moment came with Schultz's prelude to "Where We Are," a song he explained was inspired by a brush with death, where he and his wife hydroplaned on an Arizona highway and their car rolled over three times. Miraculously they were OK, though numerous witnesses rushed to the scene with tears in their eyes, initially fearing for the worst. Dabbing moisture from his eyes several times, Schultz told the Burgettstown crowd that incident was a metaphor for the pandemic, where we collectively were rolling along smoothly until an unexpected event caused a scary upheaval. The song's ultimately optimistic chorus: "Where we are/I don't know where we are/But it will be okay."

The mood stayed upbeat for "Big Parade," which had its foot-stomping, hootenanny moments.

"Donna" launched the encore, with Schultz climbing back into the crowd for high-fives as the audience again lit up its phones. Then came "Submarines" with Schultz on piano and for one of the few times, some of that lovely violin discernible.

"Birthday" brought more bash and strum, but many fans began their exodus to offset Star Lake's infamous traffic snarls.

Having seen them twice at Stage AE, opening for U2 at Heinz Field, headlining PPG Paints Arena in February 2020, and now at Star Lake, trust me when I say The Lumineers reliably put on a great show.

And they picked an excellent opening act this time, in Caamp, a fast-rising Americana band from Columbus, Ohio. No wonder many proudly wore Caamp T-shirts in the Star Lake crowd (and at last week's Lord Huron show at Stage AE.)

More:Lord Huron reigns in the rain at Stage AE

Caamp's toe-tapping, guitar jangling sound has a summer-y appeal, with lead singer Taylor Meier adding just enough Heartland rock husk. His voice reminded a bit of Dylan − as in Jakob Dylan of The Wallflowers.

A few songs with banjo, upright bass (and a guest stint by the Lumineers' Ulvang on accordion) helped Caamp preserve its country road cred. Though they can conjure monster rock, as a few verses of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" attested.

More:Review: John Mayer weaves magic once more in Pittsburgh

Recognizing the steamy 89 degree heat at showtime, Meier offered to toss a water to any fan that needed one. A few fans took him up on that offer.

Caamp's set ended abruptly after 45 minutes, and you could see spectators looking at each other wondering and hoping for more. By their next full tour, Caamp should be headlining the 5,000-capacity Stage AE.

Scott Tady is Times Entertainment Editor and easy to reach at stady@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: The Lumineers shine on a steamy Star Lake night