Jason Isbell has a Philadelphia story for the ages.
“What a good rock and roll town this is, you’ve gotta know it,” the singer-songwriter told the crowd Wednesday night after ending the song “Vestavia Hills.”
“This was the first city outside of the Deep South that I ever traveled to,” he continued, before launching into a story about his first time in Philadelphia. Isbell was a student at the University of Memphis at the time, and he and a buddy decided to come up to Philly to spend New Year’s in the city.
“We spent New Year’s Day carrying the big backdrops for the Mummers Parade,” he chuckled as the audience erupted into cheers and applause. “It was cold, we started drinking Yuengling at 4 o’clock in the morning. It was a lot of work!”
Damn! I thought to myself. He's not kidding, he really loves Philadelphia!
Most artists will tell their audience how much they love their city. You'll believe them, but if you end up seeing that same artist in another city, you'll likely hear a similar speech. Not Jason Isbell–his remarkable ability for honest, sonic storytelling extends beyond the songs themselves. He doesn't speak to his listeners; he relates to them.
The Alabama native performed to a packed house at The Met this week with his Grammy Award-winning band, The 400 Unit. The night, billed as “An Evening with Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit,” was a carefully curated journey through the musician’s decades-long career, featuring tracks from his early days with alt-country band Drive-By Truckers, his solo records, and music he’s recorded with The 400 Unit.
The Met, while arguably one of the most gorgeous theaters in Philly, is supremely cavernous. No shade to anyone, but on all of the occasions I've seen a show at The Met, not one musician could successfully make the 3,500-seat venue feel intimate. In fact, I never even considered it a possibility. Yet Isbell, with his charming southern twang and soul-tinged brand of Americana, somehow made the former opera house feel as small as, say, Johnny Brenda’s.
It helped that he took extra measures to ensure the audience would remain engaged. Around five minutes before the show began, an announcement was made over the public address system that the artist requested everyone unplug for the duration of the performance, whether that meant powering down their phones or switching their devices into “Airplane Mode.” Additionally, Isbell asked his fans to refrain from recording video, ensuring everyone could stay present and connected.
It worked–well, for the most part. There were a few stragglers, and anyone unable to resist the intrusive thought to capture their favorite song on their 5” screen was snapped back into that presence by the watchful security staff at The Met. The lack of distractions meant the audience could lock in and let themselves be carried by Isbell’s lyrics. An absolute rarity in the digital age. Everyone except for the couple in front of me–their conversation so urgent that they felt the need to yell over the music for nearly the entire show, but as the saying goes, "you can lead a horse to water..."
A select few "outside voices” proved to be no match for the commanding performance given by Isbell and his band. The 400 Unit comprises Sandler Vanden (guitar, backing vocals), Anna Butterss (bass guitar, upright bass), Derry deBorja (keyboard, accordion, backing vocals), Chad Gamble (drums, backing vocals), and Will Johnson (guitar, percussion, backing vocals). And though the band’s moniker is a reference to the psychiatric ward at a hospital in Isbell’s hometown, the word “unit” is also an appropriate way to describe how the group performs. Many solo artists will give a perfunctory nod to their touring musicians at some point during their set, but in the case of Isbell, he gladly shares the spotlight. The singer recognized his collaborators many times throughout the evening, even after songs he originally recorded without them, like “Bury Me” and “Flying Over Water.”
Rightfully so, as The 400 Unit doesn’t merely accompany Isbell’s other work, they expand it. As a songwriter, Isbell is already disarmingly raw, and if he were to simply stand on stage for two hours with just an acoustic guitar, the music would cut through to your soul. The band amplifies the emotional gravity of each song, underscoring the vulnerability and poetic weight of Isbell’s lyrics with textured, dynamic arrangements that make you feel every swell and silence in the absolute core of your being.
Perhaps this is the recipe for making a place like The Met feel as intimate as a rock club, and it may be something only Isbell can truly pull off. What An Evening with Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit showed is that, to create an evening of connection in a venue built for spectacle, you need: one part honest storyteller, one part collective force (The 400 Unit, in this case), and one part distraction removal. To give your concoction some extra oomph, add in a story about the Mummers.
Setlist
Miles
24 Frames
It Gets Easier
Maybe It's Time
Traveling Alone
Super 8
Vestavia Hills
Live Oak
Alabama Pines
Relatively Easy
Flying Over Water
Danko/Manuel (Drive-By Truckers song)
Eileen
Chaos and Clothes
Streetlights
Decoration Day (Drive-By Truckers song)
True Believer
Bury Me
If We Were Vampires
King of Oklahoma
Cover Me Up
________________
Ride to Robert's
Can't You Hear Me Knocking (The Rolling Stones cover)
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