I am not sure I can say it was not the band who had more fun at the Glorietta show at Brighton Music Hall this week. Many of you may not be aware of this collaboration, which was in the middle of its one-and-done tour, but they are a group of friends who happen to be extraordinarily talented musicians who decided to tour together for a short while. Oh, and release an album too.

Glorietta

Glorietta

Glorietta made its first appearances the weekend of Newport Folk Festival and, at least at the one show I was able to see, completely thrilled the audience. When I saw they were doing a show at a smallish venue in Boston after I returned, I knew I had to be there. It is rare that I think a band tops its performance at Newport Folk, but Glorietta did just that.

Kelsey Wilson, Jason Robert Blum, David Ramirez

It is clear from the moment they take the stage that not only are these musicians great friends but they also have the utmost respect for one another. Just look at Matthew Logan Vasquez‘ face as he watched Kelsey Wilson in the following shot.

Matthew Logan Vasquez, Kelsey Wilson

I felt as if we were crashing a private party; they were joking around, having some bromance (I hate that word but I think it accurately describes what happened on stage), and drinking tequila, all while playing amazing music.

Noah Gundersen, Matthew Logan Vasquez

Kelsey Wilson, a bottle of Patrón, David Ramirez

Glorietta

Comprising Glorietta are Matthew Logan Vasquez (Delta Spirit), Noah Gundersen, Kelsey Wilson (Wild Child), Jason Robert Blum, David Ramirez, and Adrian Quesada.

Matthew Logan Vasquez

Noah Gundersen

Kelsey Wilson

Jason Robert Blum

David Ramirez

The songs they wrote for the album are all fantastic. One called ‘Friends’ captures the essence of the band.

Glorietta

The most poignant, and the one where I watched Matthew cry on the Newport Folk stage, is ‘Lincoln Creek’ which says “Somewhere, someone is singing for free / A tab and a couple of twenties / Is all they need / Somewhere, someone is singing for free / Thank god it ain’t me”. Sung by Noah, I do not know how anyone can have a dry eye while listening to that song.

Noah Gundersen

And then there’s ‘Heatstroke’ which is the favorite of many people. I honestly cannot pick one favorite because the entire album is stellar.

Matthew Logan Vasquez, Noah Gundersen, Kelsey Wilson

Toward the end of their set (and possibly the last song before the encore), Jason asked everyone to grab someone and dance to ‘Las Estrellas’. As my friend and I were standing directly in front of him, we had to comply. Not many people did, but it was fun and added to my enjoyment of the show. We even got a thumbs up from David.

Noah Gundersen, Matthew Logan Vasquez

The lengthy encore consisted of songs about friends (unfortunately I do not remember all of them) and was an appropriate way to end the show.

Matthew Logan Vasquez

Kelsey Wilson

Noah Gundersen

I do not think there are words to describe how incredible this show was. I know it will be in my top three of the year and most likely my number one.

Matthew Logan Vasquez, Noah Gundersen, Kelsey Wilson

If you live in Dallas, Austin (with The Texas Gentlemen, be still my heart), or Houston, run to one of the last three shows Glorietta is doing. You will not regret it. The links are to the ticketing pages, so you have no excuse not to buy!

Thanks to Glorietta for the ticket; all opinions are my own.