Review: Pinegrove Sends Positive Energy At the Lincoln Theatre

Image Courtesy of Dean Robbins

By Dean Robbins

Pinegrove frontman Evan Stephens Hall is a seemingly endless source of positive vibes. After every song, he gives the audience a big beaming smile. While on a guitar instrumental, he often grins and sticks his tongue out. His between-song banter ranges from concern about global warming (the subject of Pinegrove’s latest LP 11:11) to promoting non-profits to a recurring discussion about audience members’ decisions on whether to stand or sit. He exudes happiness and kindness. Perhaps that positive energy is the special sauce that made Pinegrove so astounding live at the Lincoln Theatre. 

Pinegrove’s brand of indie-folk-rock sounds somewhere between progressive folk and emo. While the band has used instruments like the banjo in the past, the group went with a standard five-person lineup for their D.C. show: Hall on vocals and guitar, Megan Benavente on bass and backing vocals, Zack Levine on drums, Sam Skinner on keyboards, and Josh Marre on guitar. The raw energy of the songs and Hall’s charisma add another dimension to Pinegrove’s music not found in their recordings. Something beautiful and ephemeral is created in the moment of a live Pinegrove performance. The show opened with the bouncy “Alaska” from LP 11:11. The band waited until the last twenty or so minutes of their about 90-minute set to play their biggest hit, “Old Friends.”

Pinegrove was supported by two opening acts: Poise and the alt-pop musician Lily Konigsberg. Poise, a project from frontwoman Lucie Murphy that has Pinegrove’s Sam Skinner on guitar, was a complete shock. Their music is well-produced and written, which is surprising given the smaller size of their popularity (only about 1,000 monthly listeners on Spotify). The title track “Vestiges” from their most recent album has remained stuck in my head since I first heard it live. Konigsberg and her band have an entertainingly awkward 90s rock vibe, which includes a version of “Stacy’s Mom,” with lyrics from the perspective of Stacy, titled “Proud Home.” A highlight was Konigsberg getting the seated audience to stand up and dance for her last song “Sweat Forever.” Each opening act performed for about thirty minutes. 
The lyrics of Pinegrove’s songs tend to deal with not only the environment but love, the process of communication, and, most importantly, the struggle to convey one’s own complex experiences. One song “Aphasia,” from the 2016 album Cardinal, is named after a neurological condition that harms the ability to effectively communicate. The irony is that the band forges a bond of understanding through their lyrical meditations on how understanding often fails. In their live shows, Pinegrove manages to create “a riddle of empathy,” to quote their song “Habitat,” creating a connection that leaves the listener joyous, a feeling taken from Hall’s endless supply.