Watchhouse played at Sandy Amphitheater last Saturday to an appreciative crowd of cheerers and song requesters. There were plenty of empty seats to spare (a nagging reminder of these trying times?) and perhaps it’s why fans felt comfortable enough to occasionally shout songs from the North Carolina band’s own catalog in hopes they got played. A lot of them did, too. Eventually. The band casually made its way through nearly 20 songs before calling a night — sharing favorites like “Wildfire,” “Hey Stranger,” “Patterns.” Even threw in a George Harrison cover (“Beware of Darkness”).
If you missed it, why sugarcoat it? You have to know you missed plenty. The evening was a salve, a night to be buoyed up by all the beauty they had to give. It felt hopeful in a string of right ways. There are so few bands that can play a venue of that size and still come off sounding like they’ve pulled up on rocking chairs in your overly large porch if solely to show you how pretty voices can sometimes intermingle. Watchhouse is what good naturedness can sound like; they make you want to head to North Carolina just to see if that’s how folks are like over there. Just be glad they’re regular visitors.
Opening acts aren’t always worth a mention, but that was hardly the case this time: California’s Two Runner was charming, and tried a lot of new songs on us. The duo played a lot of them using a banjo that dated back to 1902. They’re back in the fall, and with a bigger band in tow. If ever there was a great trailer of tasty things to come, it was that. A second helping’s on its way.
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