by Sean Reiter
“I’ve written a lot of songs. Way too many,” Jason Isbell joked early on Thursday night at Oakland’s Fox Theater. “Probably would have been good with half.”
Last year’s acoustic, deeply introspective “Foxes in the Snow” cemented Isbell’s place right at the top of America’s best songwriters and Thursday night’s showed what happens when you combine great songcraft with a finely tuned band. Unlike last year’s intimate, quite solo acoustic shows less than a mile away at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, Thursday was a full “Evening with Jason Isbell and 400 Unit” band concert and put a fire and energy into that album and his deep catalog.
The night opened with the 400 Unit going at full throttle with “It Gets Easier” and “Hope the High Road” before dipping into Isbell’s solo release with “Bury Me” – featuring Isbell on acoustic guitar and guitarist Sadler Vaden on mandolin. As with “Bury Me,” songs like “Gravelweed” and “True Believer” evolved from songs of soft, apologetic regret to powerful songs of defiance with the full band behind them. Guitarist Vaden showed his ability to seamlessly move his sound from quiet and supportive to screaming and wailing. Likewise, longtime drummer Chad Gamble and keyboardist Derry DeBorja are equally adept at supporting Isbell’s shifting moods with their newest members – bassist Anna Butterss and multi-instrumentalist Will Johnson staying right with them.
“This is one of my favorite places to play. A beautiful room, great people and sounds great,” Isbell told the crowd. Isbell’s two-hour show focused heavier on the music than engagements with the crowd. He did take a minute before a very tender version of “If We Were Vampires” to bring a funny story from his past of heavy drinking (Isbell has been very public for many years on the positive impact that sobriety has brought to his life) where he tried to think ahead on a heavy drinking night in Athens, GA and parked his car far away from the bar to hide it from himself. Unfortunately, he did such a good job in hiding the car that he was unable to find the car even the next day and had to call the police to falsely report the car stolen. “They didn’t have too much to do there, but even they didn’t want to put up with my shit,” Isbell told the audience.
The main set was wrapped up with two songs that demonstrated Isbell and the 400 Unit’s duality. First, a hard, driving “King of Oklahoma” – a song that has rightfully claimed its place in the Rushmore of Isbell’s catalog – with Isbell unleashing a fierce solo on his Les Paul. They then finished with the mega-hit “Cover Me Up” that started with Sadler on a tender slide guitar before the band gradually took the stage and Gamble taking the drums from slowly from a near-whisper into a bombastic anthem.
The exits of The Fox were suprisingly vacant as nearly the entire crowd stayed for Isbell’s three-song encore. “True Believer” started as a solo acoustic song and then eventually saw DeBorja take the song to a cathedral moment. “Danko/ Manuel” provided Isbell with an opportunity to wow the crowd with a solo that was reminiscent of Mark Knopfler’s “Brothers in Arms.” Finally, the 22-sing night was concluded with a cover of Rolling Stone’s “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” that featured fun drum work from Gamble and each of the members getting a chance to solo. Then – and only then – did the crowd finally start to exit the Fox.
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