Augustana at Opera House – 04/26/12

Written and Photographs by Taylor Luftig

It isn’t often that a band will follow a hiatus with a 2 and a half hour crowd serenade at the Opera House months later. Every Augustana fan at the Opera house on Thursday night was utterly spoiled by the very band that stole their hearts and broke them back in November. Despite an inevitable hiatus after nine years of producing music, the newly formed band captivated the calm and collected crowd, and held their attention for their entire set, jam-packed with new unreleased songs.

The first song brought forth a slight hesitancy, not from the band, but from the crowd. The new members of Augustana including David Lamoureux (former member), Jay Barclay, and Jordan Lamoureux took to the stage with ease. Once the opening chords of Mayfield set in, it was clear that the new members were as happy to be up on stage playing the music of Augustana that the crowd was equally as happy to be hearing live again. By the end of the evening it was clear that while the crowds’ hearts may belong to the former members of the band, the new members did Dan’s work justice and might have just won over their hearts as well.
No longer signed to Epic records, the band has used this tour as a means for delivering their new insinuating ballads to their devoted fans. The sound of the new material is certainly captivating, with a decent group of them bound to get the band some well-deserved attention.

At the peak of crowd interaction, the room collectively decided that the band should simply release their music via Youtube. Whether or not Dan was serious about the idea, it would undoubtedly be an interesting route for the band to take, and would surely fit the new mould the industry is moving towards. With four albums already under their belt, and three lineup changes, it is overwhelmingly comforting to know that the band is nowhere near done, and their new tunes and live performance only grows with the man who writes them.