It had been a lengthy six years since Seattle’s Band of Horses had been in town. Then the Railroad Revival Tour was announced and BOH’s destiny was locked with that of Willie Nelson’s with a performance in the historical Old Town Spring just north of Houston.

And just like that, plans for the trek were derailed (ha!), ol’ Willie’s health speculated as the cause, and BOH shouldered the weight and announced their own replacement tour to buck up the spirits of those who, in the wake of the band’s commercial success with the Grammy-nominated Infinite Arms, cozied up to the rootsy Americana of the band and the warmth of Ben Bridwell’s canyon-echo vocals.

Hit the jump for the full recap.

– sunbear

Wasting absolutely no time in getting down to business, BOH sauntered onto the House of Blues stage, punching the air and brimming with energy, and launching into Infinite Arms’ “Factory.” On record, the song is a subdued, sparkly affair, with plenty of open space for the warm strings that the higher production of a major label could offer. Live, however, the song was a fierce and robust epic, so mighty it could have blown off the roof of the venue prematurely.

The band have very obviously embraced their stadium-sized status both in sound and in scope. BOH play their songs in an overly-celebratory manner, as if each might be the last performance ever. It might have been the energy of the sold out venue, but it seems these guys just genuinely love doing what they do, and play their hearts out.

Vintage BOH anthems like “The Great Salt Lake” and “Is There a Ghost,” made appearances early in the set, both to ecstatic response. But surprisingly, it was the technical prowess of the band during their Eagles-esque “Electric Music” and the honeyed vocal harmonies of the America-sound-alike “Dumpster World” that had the House of Blues most enwrapped, be it of the foot-stomping variety, or the lighters up/swaying kind.

Ben Bridwell is, and I know this is a strange word, a very plucky frontman. When he’s rocking out a song like say “Laredo,” he has a wondrous, endearing sense of “I’m in a rock band!!” to all his actions – as if this all came as a surprise to him. Even when he forgot the words to the bass-on-bass “Our Swords,” he was not shy about stopping the performance to scratch his head and ask for an assist from keyboardist/guitar solo slayer Ryan Monroe.

The ladies in attendance swooned when, for the first encore song, a delicate acoustic performance of “Evening Kitchen” with just Bridwell and guitarist Tyler Ramsey, took center stage and prettied up the night. Then all was brought back to the rocking, albeit bluesy fold with the finale of a cover of Two of Them’s “Am I a Good Man” that brought the house down.

Over the course of 25 songs and an hour and a half set, BOH snatched up every opportunity to make a lasting impression on the pearl-snapped Houston crowd and delivered one of the best concerts round these parts, the likes of which, I pray, won’t take another 6 years to follow up on.

SETLIST: