The Revivalists Touched Down at House of Blues Orlando

The Revivalists Touched Down at House of Blues Orlando

By: Seth Kicklighter

A few months after the release of their most recent album Take Good Care, 8-piece alternative and roots rock group The Revivalists finally stopped by Orlando, Florida.

Bringing a soulful rock and roll show filled with plenty of good vibes and cool music. Recently passing their 10-year anniversary as a band, they seem to have really honed their skills in performing fun and engaging live shows.  With leadman David Shaw becoming an iconic and fun vocalist.

Opening for them was Rayland Baxter, and not a bad choice considering him and his band sounds like a stripped down and more blues-oriented version of The Revivalists. Performing a range of hard-hitting rock to softer and easy going modern blues I wasn’t surprised to find out he had a decent following himself.

The crowd at House of Blues Orlando consisted of all kinds, from teenagers to just as many older adults. What’s great about the Revivalists is their aesthetic and instrumentation could pretty easily come off as music made in the ’60s or ’70s, but their usage of tones and vocal melodies help them bring that sound to the modern era, catering to any age group that enjoys southern style rock.

They clearly knew that’s the sound they wanted to capture when naming their group. It’s not easy to find many artists today with such a diverse fan base.

There wasn’t one song played that night where I couldn’t find many of the fans singing along. Some of the bigger hits had the entire crowd involved, waving their arms and bumping into each other trying to get attention from David was when moving around and occasionally off the stage, having fun with some of the more persistent fans who made it to the front.

As the guys closed out the set initially with “Catching Fireflies” from their first LP Vital Signs, the crowd didn’t even wait till they were off the stage to start screaming for an encore. Everyone pretty much knew they were going to do one, since they didn’t even play their biggest song yet, “Wish I Knew You.” A song that made it to #1 on the alternative chart for Billboard back in mid-2017.

When they finally come back on stage, they treated everyone to a three-song encore. Starting with an interesting, and funky cover of Fine Young Cannibal’s “She Drives Me Crazy,” and perfectly ending their energetic show with “Wish I Knew You.” It’s one of those songs you hear often enough to where pretty much everyone who has ever listened to the radio at least knows the chorus.

You can probably imagine how insane the crowd’s energy was for the finale. Leading the group of fans to jump and yell the lyrics in unison. I was very close to the front for most of the set with the super fans and I felt like I was in the most polite mosh pit ever for four and a half minutes.

If they come anywhere near Florida again, I doubt I’ll be missing them. If you want to add this band to your bucket list of shows, as you should check out their list of remaining tour dates below.

See full gallery of the night!

https://www.therevivalists.com/