Tall Heights, an indie folk duo hailing from Boston, Massachusetts comprised of Tim
Harrington (Guitar/vocals) and Paul Wright (Cello/vocals) were the openers for
NEEDTOBREATHE’s Cave’s World Tour stop at History in Toronto, on October 19.
The duo had a great comradery with the audience, their easy humor and chatter keeping everyone smiling and laughing throughout their set. The blend of guitar/cello is an instrumental partnership that is widely known to be a golden pairing, and the blend of these two as a simple duo on stage did not require the backing of percussion to make it pop. Tim and Paul played a set covering their older albums as well as a new release from the album Softly, Softly, which had been released only the day prior. They even covered Blink-182’s “Dammit” as their second song.
They got a bit confident at the end and decided to unplug entirely to play their last song
to the 2,500-capacity venue with no audio assistance. I appreciated the reason, but
unfortunately, their voices/music did not make it to the back of the venue with much
integrity, and I was left a bit wanting on that last track. Despite that one small hiccup, I
was very impressed with Tall Heights and thought that they did a great job opening the
show for the headliners.
NEEDTOBREATHE took to the stage with a burst of energy, starting their set off with
“Great Night”, a perfect choice as an opening track lyrically [“Let’s have a great night, on
the dancefloor” yes, let’s.] from the 2016 album HARDLOVE. The South Carolina
quintet charged forward with a huge setlist that spanned their entire career, a career
that has lasted 25 years and 9 studio albums (so far). They have a depth and breadth of music to choose from in their repertoire.
NEEDTOBREATHE is made up of 5 members: William ‘Bear’ Rinehart (Lead vocals/Guitar), Seth Bolt (Bass/vocals), Josh Lovelace (Piano/vocals), Randall Harris (Drums), and Tyler Burkum (Guitar/vocals). Often classified as Christian Rock, the band would prefer to be referenced within the larger generalized ‘Rock’ category. I would personally drop them somewhere within the Southern Rock lake – there is definitely something about their style that hangs on the side of the country (maybe it’s the cowboy hats). But no matter how you classify them, NEEDTOBREATHE was a force to be reckoned with on stage. Mid-set, they brought all 5 members to the front of the stage to play a batch of songs acoustically.
While I was personally slightly disappointed that “Testify” (one of my favorite songs), got the acoustic treatment, the vision of all 5 members front of stage was a real treat. The set charged on from there, including covers of the traditional folk song “House of the Rising Sun”, and Tom Petty’s “You Wreck Me”, among a few other favorites, including “Who am I” and “Girl Named Tennessee”. Following a short break, they returned to the stage for their encore with a piano solo and jumped into “Brother”. This was the song that made me fall in love with this band originally, and the first song I heard by them. *Aside: Originally, I heard this song covered by Jensen Ackles (Supernatural) – not many better endorsements than having that actor sing your song to a room of people who are arguably some of the most committed/intense fans on earth. While I give Jensen the credit for introducing me to NEEDTOBREATHE, getting to hear it live from the band was a great moment in time, having waited to see them for several years.
Overall, NEEDTOBREATHE was a fantastic night out, and one I would recommend to
anyone to see live given the opportunity. Their quality live was impeccable, Bear’s lead
vocals a fantastic combination of raw and melodic quality. A high-energy show that
had everyone dancing and singing along.
See photos from the show below!
