There’s a video in my camera roll from 2017 I refuse to delete. In it, one of my best childhood friends taps out the haunted, lingering piano melody of The Lumineers song “Patience” at the old brown piano tucked in her parents’ foyer.
We were 16 years old at the time, and for some reason that 90-second instrumental, which caps off the band’s 2016 album “Cleopatra,” became the song I returned to anytime I needed to take a deep breath. When teenagehood got overwhelming, when things were confusing, when the homogeneous Indiana suburb in which I grew up felt suffocating, “Patience” was always there, and it remains one of my favorite melodies to this day.
And now, eight years later, in the throes of young adulthood, still as overwhelmed and confused as ever sometimes, I got to once again experience the peaceful embrace of The Lumineers.
The folk band behind alternative anthems “Ho Hey” and “Ophelia” visited Riverbend Music Center on July 8 as part of the Automatic World Tour, named after the highly-anticipated album of the same name released Feb. 14 this year.
The group’s latest work marks a welcome return for fans like myself who grew up scream-singing to its debut self-titled album released in 2012 and its sophomore album “Cleopatra.” The Lumineers’ album “Automatic” is the fifth of a steady stream of album releases the group, anchored by founding members Wesley Schultz on lead vocals and Jeremiah Fraites on drums and piano, has produced since its debut.
Admittedly, in my college years, navigating the pandemic and decidedly rejecting the ultra-folksy tunes I grew up loving, The Lumineers’ third and fourth albums “III” (2019) and “Brightside” (2022) largely passed me by. But in the new release, the pair tackle themes of connection, love and the state of the world that are strikingly familiar to current 24-year-old me.
And by the looks of Tuesday night’s Riverbend crowd, The Lumineers’ newest work has once again resonated with a suburban teenager-type (if I may generalize my former counterparts). In line with my being deeply nostalgic most of the night, the Minnesotan indie rock group Hippo Campus was the opener – a band I’m faintly sure I’ve seen perform before comprised of members I would have surely had crushes on in high school.
Here are five standout moments from my night returning to the music that got me through my formative years.
5 standout moments from The Lumineers at Riverbend Music Center
The Lumineers’ frontmen celebrate 20 years onstage
As bands do, many a musician has passed through The Lumineers ensemble on various tours, but the band was dreamt up and has been fronted by Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites since 2005. Fraites’ ease shifting from the drum set to the piano to the guitar on stage and Schultz’s unwavering confidence planted up front on vocals show that the pair is a well-oiled machine that isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
Schultz made a point to praise his co-founder after moving through the plucking guitar melody that leads their 2016 track “Angela.” In one of his only spoken transitions directed toward the crowd, Schultz shouted out the pair’s 20-year career and added in his signature grumbly tone, “Some bands can’t make it 5 years or even 10 years … here’s to 20 more.”
Wesley Schultz milks the crowd Lumineers-style
It’s no question that what makes The Lumineers stand out among the innumerable bands trying to break into the indie folk genre is Schultz’s soaring tenor vocals.
It’s a skill he effortlessly flexed in the middle of performing the haunted love song “Dead Sea.” Near the peak of one of the choruses, Schultz took off his baseball cap and tipped it toward the crowd, spurring high schooler-pitched shrieks from the audience. As if to revel in the crowd’s hysterics, Schultz then delivered a string of improvised vocal runs, climbing upward to the same angelic tenor range that helped put The Lumineers on the map.
Barefoot pianist can’t sit still
When the seven-person ensemble of The Lumineers came onstage, my attention was taken by their pianist, who hovered over the piano bench with childlike excitement as he expertly manned the keys. And what’s more, he was doing it barefoot.
A quick Google search later and I learned that the pianist is Stelth Ulvang and has been touring with the band since 2011 after apparently interacting with them on MySpace. Though, with the way he lept up from the piano to hype up the crowd and lead every chant with the tenacity of a Lumineers superfan, you would’ve never known he’s got over a decade of time with the band under his belt.
He was easily one of the most animated musicians and definitely the most animated pianist I’d ever seen and it was a delight to witness.
Wesley ventures into the crowd
The sheer excitement (and youthful demographic) of the audience was on full display toward the end of the set when Schultz leaped off the stage and started marching through the crowd, up toward the lawn packed with concertgoers at the back of the venue.
“He loves going into the crowd. He does this every show,” the woman next to me exclaimed, gazing up at the screen showing nothing but a cameraman and a spotlight following the Lumineers frontman through the crowd.
I was amazed that, by the looks of it, Schultz didn’t have any personal security following him, protecting him from rowdy audience members. Though, I suppose there’s less of a risk there since a large part of the crowd consisted of teenaged girls and their parent chaperones.
Cameo from Cincinnati’s ‘hometown kid’ Michael Marcagi
The Lumineers treated the crowd at Riverbend when they brought out Cincinnati’s own Michael Marcagi to join them in performing their 2012 track “Charlie Boy.”
After growing up listening to the band in high school just as I did, Marcagi made his debut alongside The Lumineers as their opening act for the Europe leg of their tour in April this year.
“To go from when I was learning guitar and trying to learn songs in my bedroom, to now getting to tour across Europe, I really feel like I’m getting pranked. I 100% expect to wake up one day (and discover) that I’ve lost my mind,” Marcagi, an Anderson High School alum, previously told The Enquirer.
“Schultz and his wife have been so kind to me … (they’ve) been a sounding board for all these new experiences,” he added.
The band and Marcagi have gone on to write a couple songs together, including his “Good Enough,” which was released in October 2024.
“Give it up for the hometown kid,” Schultz exclaimed during Marcagi’s cameo Tuesday night.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: The Lumineers bring Cincinnati musician on stage at Riverbend: 5 major moments from show
Reporting by Grace Tucker, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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