Brawling Valentines

Josh Ritter might be the happiest person at a Josh Ritter show. Anyone who has seen the singer-songwriter live can attest to this. From the moment he walks on stage to the final bow, Ritter wears his broad smile with a sincere “thanks so much for being here” expression across his face. Except what makes Josh Ritter different is that you believe him. He genuinely looks like there is no place he would rather be. At the House of Blues on Feb. 11, most of the audience agreed.

The “Valentine’s Day Brawl” tour features Scott Hutchinson, lead singer and guitarist of Scottish indie sadness mongers Frightened Rabbit, opening up for Ritter. Having seen Frightened Rabbit a number of times, it was odd to see Scott playing songs with just an acoustic guitar and his strained voice. It was hit or miss. “The Modern Leper” – a highlight from the Frightened Rabbit’s 2008 record Midnight Organ Fight (Fat Cat)  – stood out with a sparse arrangement giving it even heavier emotional weight. But new songs like rocker “Nothing Like You” came off as rather flat without his bandmates. However, Scott kept it entertaining during the 45-minute set, cracking jokes and interacting with the audience (many of whom had no idea who Frightened Rabbit was). Toward the end of his set, Scott covered the Bruce Springsteen’s classic “I’m Going Down.” Surprisingly, the Boss’ words of love gone sour work perfectly in a slightly inebriated Scottish voice.

At 9 p.m., Josh Ritter and his fantastic band came on and proceeded to bring the house down. Utilizing synthesizers and a horn section to perfection, Ritter played through highlights from his latest record So Runs The World Away (Pytheas Recordings, 2010), including a gorgeous rendition of “The Curse” and a version of “Rattling Lock” that can only be described as Tom Waits-ian.

But this being “The Valentines Day Brawl” tour, everything from the stage layout full of paper roses to the song selection was aimed at celebrating Feb. 14. Included in this Valentine’s Day theme was a special website where audience members could write messages for Josh to read on stage. He must have gone through nearly 40 that night. The notes ranged from humorous (the love letter someone wrote to himself) to sincere (at least one couple got engaged, which seems to be a pretty common occurrence at Josh Ritter shows). During an interlude into the Talking Heads’ classic “Once In A Lifetime,” Ritter changed the lyrics to be more fitting for Valentine’s Day (“you may find yourself on the internet looking for the roots of this holiday cause you are a huge nerd”).

Josh also performed his usual mid-show acoustic set, including stark renditions of “The Temptation of Adam” and “Girl in the War,” where he walked to the edge of the stage and sang to the crowd without any aid from a microphone. The band came back on to provide harmonies for a haunting cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Pale Blue Eyes.” The end of his set brought out some high energy tracks, ending the main set with “To the Dogs or Whoever,” probably the most feel-good song in Ritter’s entire catalog.

Ritter came back for an encore performing a new song, “Galahad,” which utilizes both Ritter’s incredible storytelling ability and his sharp wit. Scott Hutchinson returned on stage for a duet of The Everly Brothers’ “Stories We Could Tell.” The Midwestern and Scottish voices didn’t harmonize particularly well together, but it was really cool in concept. Closing with “Snow is Gone,” Ritter and his band took a bow and left the stage after two hours and 24 songs.

And of course, he was smiling the whole time.