JOSEPHINE KALBFLEISCH
Matt Quinn, lead singer of Mt. Joy. The band performed at TD Garden Sept. 20, with Quinn strumming his acoustic guitar while lights beamed overhead.
When people ask me to describe Mt. Joy, I typically respond with something along the lines of “if Hozier and the Lumineers had a baby, that’s what you would get.” And, their performance at TD Garden on Sept. 20 solidified this notion for me more than ever.
With no opening act, the Philadelphia-born, indie-folk band took the stage for two sets over the span of two and a half hours, performing songs from their past four albums with the occasional cover.
The show opened with the gentle guitar strumming of “Lemon Tree” that eventually picks up into an upbeat, funky chorus ending with a dramatic guitar followed by a drum bridge. Lead singer Matt Quinn belts the occasional note in the background — characteristic of their music. I buckled up for what I knew would be a good night.
Oh, and for the fourth song, they performed “Highway Queen,” of course.
Positioned in front of a colorful background of morphing shapes and kaleidoscope-like effects, the band performed the first half of the set, which included “Orange Blood,” a song that immediately transports me to driving along the lake back home while the sun sets.
They also played “God Loves Weirdos” early on. I don’t know how they make a gas station at 4 a.m. sound romantic — but add it to the bucket list, I guess.
And, back to the covers: While I’m still not sure why they slipped a snippet of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” into their jazzy “Let Loose,” I enjoyed that surprise, along with the addition of Wheatus’ “Teenage Dirtbag,” to the setlist — no matter how random they were.
While Sam Cooper certainly knows how to strum a guitar and Sotiris Eliopoulos can put together a beat on the drums, for me, the band’s lyrics are the real appeal. They can be random and fun — I’m looking at you, “Johnson Song” — or reflect on gentle love, like “Let Loose.” Either way, if you’re someone who likes hiking, long drives or sunset walks, I’d recommend this band to you.
Turns out they’re not bad live either. I can say this with confidence, because my phone died 20 minutes into the concert, so I was fully present the whole time with no way to record anything.
The first half ended beautifully with “Cardinal,” a song I heard for the first time at their encore for their last concert I went to. Although that was arguably a more intimate experience in the hills of upstate New York — before they were selling out at venues like TD Garden — the song still held all the emotion and nostalgia in the TD Garden nosebleeds as it did up close three summers ago.
The second half of the concert picked up the energy and started out strong with “Evergreen” before diving into “Sheep” with its pointed lyrics, “You cut it up, you cut it up, but it’s still the red, white and the blue.”
“Pink Lady” was next and sent all of TD Garden dancing in the glow of the pink background, which blasted like a halo from behind the band.
For the middle part of the second set, the band took us back to 2018 and 2020, playing a series of songs from the albums “Mt. Joy” and “Rearrange Us.”
I must say — there’s nothing quite like singing “Strangers” surrounded by strangers. The only thing I can truly compare it to is hearing “Someone New” by Hozier, also surrounded by strangers — like I said, the two remind me of each other.
Then, they presented us with a Mt. Joy classic: songs named after people.
In this case, the songs of choice were “Lucy” and “Julia.” Prior to starting “Lucy,” Quinn highlighted the band’s partnership with Family Reach, a cancer nonprofit, in support of the community and in honor of his friend battling cancer, whom he wrote the song about.
On a lighter note, it turns out that “Julia” is about being too drunk in a restaurant — an interpretation of the song I’d never even considered. You really do learn something new every day.
And that’s precisely why my favorite part of any concert is when the performers interact with the audience. For a band performing to about 19,000 people, it was refreshing to see they still possess the same down-to-earth energy that they did when they first started.
Following a short interlude of “Tiny Dancer” sandwiched in the middle of “Julia,” we got to my favorite song of the night — and probably part of the reason I bought my ticket in the first place if I’m being honest — “Bathroom Light.”
The guitar strums and the banjo playing, accompanied by Quinn’s acoustics, will get me every time — what can I say?
As the band “closed” out the night with “Astrovan,” confetti blasted from the stage, lighting up TD Garden with color. And, surprise, the crowd went wild.
For anyone who’s been to a Mt. Joy concert or knows anything about their concerts, you know there’s going to be an encore — which, now that I think about it, I don’t know if that could really be considered an encore if you know it’s coming.
Either way, I got to hear “Jenny Jenkins” and “Silver Lining,” so I’m not complaining.
And what a perfect way to end the night. I can’t think of a more fitting place to sing “You know I wouldn’t change things, even if I made it” from “Jenny Jenkins” than in one of the largest and most iconic venues in the Northeast.
After seeing how far they’ve come in the past three years, I would certainly say they’ve made it.