“I was born to love her, everybody knows
Just the way it is, just the way it goes
She’s a cold companion, like a desert rose
The worse it is, the more she glows”
-The Arcs, Cold Companion
Earlier this year I posted a brief list of albums I was enjoying. The list included “Yours Dreamily“, the first studio album by The Arcs. For those unfamiliar, Arcs is a rock band created as a side project from The Black Keys guitarist and prolific producer of incredible music, Dan Auerbach. I had learned about a month ago that The Arcs would be performing at The Orpheum Theater in Boston in December. Having just racked up a hefty credit card debt buying Christmas presents I thought I might have to sit this one out and try to catch them the next time around. Out of curiosity this week I decided to see if ticket prices had dropped at all and turns out they had had! I came across two 3rd row orchestra seats for $18 each on SeatGeek. I convinced myself that it was a sign from the universe that I was meant to see this show and bought the tickets.
The Arcs is a relatively new band and the show was not heavily promoted but this deal still seemed pretty insane considering The Black Keys have sold out TD Garden (about 17K people capacity). I was only about 60% sure that the tickets weren’t counterfeit but to my relief they scanned and we were let in and ushered to the best seats I’ve ever had at a concert.
The show was really incredible. Dan Auerbach seems like a mad scientist having an out-of-body experience when he’s performing. I have seen The Black Keys in concert before but being this close to the musicians was a totally different experience. There was some trippy projected lighting and a few potted plants on stage but otherwise the set was really simple and low-tech. The paired down set felt really fitting to this band that seems solely committed to just making authentically great music free of any other frivolity.
Below are some photos I took throughout the show. Enjoy!
Had to shout out the beauty that is the Orpheum Theater. Like a lot of theaters in Boston it is really old (1852) and could use a little love in places (the seats) but still.. such a beautiful space to see a show.
Now onto the concert
Back-up vocals and instrumentals are provided by Julie Justine Acosta, Mireya Ramos and Shae Fiol, three members of the all-female mariachi group Flor de Toloache. I spent at least half of the concert just watching them because they were so talented and seemed like they were having the most fun.
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