Josh Ritter - Chicago, IL

Chicago's Double Door is an intimate venue, but due to the large bar that extends along almost the entire venue and the main floor spill over area at the back, it is not always an easy venue for getting and keeping people's attention. It is also usually extremely hot in there, which doesn't help. So, there has to be something really entrancing happening on-stage to keep the chatter down and the clinking bottles to a minimum, and for the most part, Josh Ritter was able to do that.

Ritter is currently touring his newest release, The Animal Years. In case you aren't a regular reader of music press, the general consensus on the record is that it is his best yet, and will generally be tough to top this year. Songs from The Animal Years dominated the setlist and even though they're new, they already feel like old friends. Part of the reason for that is Ritter's musical style and the other reason is his delivery. While the whole "I'm so happy to be here" shtick sometimes comes across as a manipulation tactic used to ingrain a musician in the audience's good graces, from Ritter that sentiment feels absolutely authentic. While he seems genuinely thrilled to be earning a living playing music for people, he also seems a little bit surprised by that as well. But, more on that later.

The set started quietly with "Other Side" and quickly moved into what is easily the best song of the year so far, "Girl in the War." The pace picked up again with "Good Man" and kept on drifting between the upbeat and the deeply quiet. "Thin Blue Flame" clocks in at over nine minutes on the record, an epic song, and one that feels a bit too long on a hot, sweaty night. But while attention seemed to drift on that song, he got it back, and that was never more clear than on his last song of the night "Lawrence, KS" - which he played alone and unplugged and somehow managed to bring the crowd at the Double Door to complete silence at one a.m. on a Friday night with only his soft voice and his acoustic guitar.

Ritter is backed by Zach Hickman/bass, Sam Kassirer/keyboards, and Dave Hingerty/drums. The three other musicians seem not only to offer their musical abilities to Ritter, but he also turns to them for moral support. He mentioned more than once that he was a little nervous, and while that in and of itself is endearing, still nervous after more than six years of playing in front of people, one almost wishes that Ritter had a bit more confidence. There were moments where it felt as if he was backing off of songs instead of gunning for it. While no one can be sure what goes on in Ritter's mind while he is up there, he would probably benefit from the knowledge that the people willing to stand and sweat for hours are right there with him. They love banter and they know he's got the songs to back him up. Right now Ritter is walking that razor thin line between being great and being monumental, and one can only hope that the current tour behind these fantastic new songs will help take his confidence up a notch to that next level.