311 and Dirty Heads teamed up this summer for a co-headlining tour with support from Bikini Trill, Dreamers, and The Interrupters, the makings for a great night of summer music! Merriweather Post Pavilion was packed with fans! For 29 years, 311 has been making music together and this summer they were touring to celebrate this milestone, in addition to their latest release, Voyager.
Throughout this tour, the bands have been adhering to predictable set-lists, understandably so, with five bands to get through before venue curfew times. Since they are co-headlining, 311 and Dirty Heads have been alternating their place in the line up. For the Merriweather show, it was 311 who would close out the evening. 311’s set-list was perfectly curated. They kicked off the evening with three fan-favorites: “Homebrew”, “All Mixed Up”, and “Beautiful Disaster”. Although they are promoting a new album, they didn’t overload their set-list with new songs. They only performed 5 new songs off their new album, Voyager. All of the songs were well received by the fans, especially “Good Feeling” which is a fantastic live song and puts everyone in a good mood!
The band made sure to mix in a few of their more chill songs such as “Beyond the Gray Sky”, “Amber”, and one from their new album, “Don’t You Worry”. There was no encore for the evening; however, 311 went out on a high note, performing back to back songs packed with energy: “Creatures (For a While)” and “Down”. On their Twitter account, 311 explained why they were foregoing encores. They wrote, “Due to a 5 band bill and venue curfews, this summer 311 are not stepping off the stage to come back for an encore. Instead 311 wants to make sure they are playing music for every minute of their allotted 70 minute set.” As a fan, I appreciate this decision. 311 wasted no time and kept the music going all the way through their 16 songs.
Having been a fan of 311 for almost all of their 29 years, I must say – they really do know how to put on a live performance. Their stage lighting is fantastic, they do a great job of mixing up their set-lists to provide their fans with a mix of new and old songs, and the boys are right on point with their delivery. Before closing out the night, lead singer and front-man, Nick Hexum shouted out to the crowd, “Are you happy? Because we’re happy. This summer makes 29 years that we’ve been making music, playing in beautiful places like this, and bringing people together.” And it truly was a great night of music with great people!
I am hoping that 311 will tour next year to celebrate 30 years of making music and to perform more songs from their new album! In the meantime, check out Voyager – it’s a solid album!
All photos copyright and courtesy of Shantel Mitchell Breen.
