During his show at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall Saturday night, the acclaimed singer-songwriter-guitarist Jason Isbell recalled that he had previously been at the famed venue as a spectator for the premiere screening of Game of Thrones final season in 2019. “It was cool on one hand because it was Game of Thrones,” he told the crowd. “But it was also the last season…It was fun and I thought to myself, ‘Man, I sure would like to make music in that place.”
Nearly five years later, Isbell achieved that goal with his superlative band, the 400 Unit, when they performed their sold-out concert in the Big Apple. The group had been riding high in the last year with the success of Isbell’s latest and excellent record Weathervanes, which recently netted two Grammy Awards: Best Americana Album and Best American Roots Song for “Cast Iron Skillet.” In a 2023 interview with Newsweek, Isbell explained that he wanted to make a record that offered listeners the same feeling of witnessing his live shows.
“That was a big part of the reason why I chose to produce this record myself [after working with producer Dave Cobb on previous albums] because it just felt like we could capture something here that felt a little bit more like seeing us on stage,” he said in the interview. “And I think we did that. There are some louder moments, there are some really dynamic moments, a lot of electric guitars on this record.”
He was on the right track as several of the songs from Weathervanes made up a good part of the setlist at the Radio City show. The performances elevated the studio versions from that record up several notches – especially on the intense “King of Oklahoma” and “Save the World”; the tender “Strawberry Woman”; and the gut-wrenching “When We Were Close,” which he and the band opened the show with.
Those songs and others from Isbell’s catalog performed at the show document the human condition in cathartic and stark terms, and especially the environment where we are brought up (in Isbell’s case, the South, specifically Alabama) shapes us – it’s hard not to be moved by his unflinching honesty in the lyrics, particularly in such songs as “Traveling Alone,” “Speed Trap Town,” “When We Were Vampires,” and “Cast Iron Skillet,” another song from Weathervanes (He had previously said in the Newsweek interview that the songs from the record are about people’s disenchantment about where they ended up in life).
The emotional punch from the lyrics was complemented by some compelling playing from Isbell’s bandmates – guitarist Sadler Vaden, keyboardist Derry deBorja, drummer Chad Gamble, multi-instrumentalist Will Johnson, and bassist Anna Butterss. Isbell was no slouch on the electric guitar himself–in addition to his talents as a formidable singer and songwriter, Isbell turned in some amazing axe work, including on “King of Oklahoma” and “Decoration Day.” The moments that he and Vaden traded guitar solos were a highlight.
For the encore, Isbell returned to the stage by himself to perform the standout ballad Cover Me Up, from the 2013 breakthrough album Southeastern, which marked its 10th anniversary last year with a deluxe reissue. Always romantic and touching, “Cover Me Up” has become one of the artist’s beloved songs. That was followed by two more songs from Weathervanes to close the night on an uplifting note, the ambitious “Miles” and “This Ain’t It,” generating rapturous audience responses. Even Isbell acknowledged how it special the show at Radio City in his message on Threads afterward: “I’m so grateful for today it’s almost unbearable. Nights like this make me feel so alive.”
Perfectly opening Isbell and the 400 Unit’s show was the legendary Aimee Mann, whose critically received songwriting has been a huge part of her artistic identity going back to her days fronting the ’80s band ‘Til Tuesday through her solo career from the last 30 years. That was on full display when she and her band took the stage for the hour playing notable cuts from such records as Lost In Space (“The Moth”), The Forgotten Arm (“I Can’t Help You Anymore”); Mental Illness (“You Never Loved Me”); and the most recent Queens of the Summer Hotel (“You Fall”)—along with, of course, the Oscar-nominated “Save Me” from the Magnolia soundtrack. She brought out musician Jonathan Coulton for two numbers, “Patient Zero” and “Rollercoasters,” and they complemented each other beautifully through their vocal harmonies. Not surprisingly, Mann’s band powered through without their drummer, who was hospitalized but is fine, the singer explained to the audience—a testament to the moving songs and the performances.
When We Were Close
Save the World
King of Oklahoma
Strawberry Woman
Last of My Kind
Overseas
Hope the High Road
Speed Trap Town
Alabama Pines
Traveling Alone
Stockholm
Flying Over Water
White Beretta
Honeysuckle Blue (Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ cover)
Decoration Day (Drive‐By Truckers cover)
Cast Iron Skillet
24 Frames
If We Were Vampires
Encore:
Cover Me Up
Miles
This Ain’t It
Lies of Summer
You Fall
You Never Loved Me
Patient Zero (with Jonathan Coulton)
Rollercoasters (with Jonathan Coulton)
The Moth
Burn It Out
Little Bombs
Save Me
I Can’t Help You Anymore
King of the Jailhouse
