After a nearly two-year hiatus, Bombadil will return to the stage for what is sure to be one of the most talked about Triangle concerts of the year.
Wednesday night, Bombadil will hit the stage for the first time since May 2009 when they are joined at Cat’s Cradle by The Avett Brothers and The Low Anthem for a concert benefiting Carolina Farm Stewards and Methodist Home For Children.
Tickets for the show went on sale Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. and sold out in less than a minute. For those fortunate enough to score a tickets, the concert will be a rare opportunity to catch The Avett Brothers in a medium-capacity venue.
The concert was partially facilitated by Ramseur Records, the independent label that has served as Bombadil’s home since 2006 and helped The Avett Brothers get their start in 2003 with the release of A Carolina Jubilee.
From the start Bombadil’s Bryan Rahija describes the organization of the benefit concert as “mostly zeitgeist,” and says the choice of location couldn’t have been better.
“Honestly this opportunity came up pretty quickly and so it wasn’t something we deliberated over all that much,” Rahija said. “But it did coincide with Daniel beginning to feel better, us playing together more and more, and us having lots of new material we were excited about sharing.”
Since 2007, Daniel Michalak has suffered from a serious case of tendinitis, which has inhibited him from common tasks such as brushing his teeth, much less playing an instrument. As such, the band decided to take a break while he recovered, though they moved ahead with the release of Tarpits and Canyonlands, which garnered heaps of praise for the band.
“It hurts to have put so much time and energy into something and not be able to give it that last final push,” Rahija explained of having to put touring on hold ahead of the release of Tarpits and Canyonlands. “I think we’re all happy we were able to release that record. And on the plus side, being in our state of suspended animation has given us time think about our approach to everything about the band, whether it’s recording music, performing, or putting songs together.”
That approach will be put on display Wednesday at the Cradle, and Rahija says fans can expect a simplified, more restrained Bombadil.
“[Michalak's] had to change his approach in playing and in writing songs and we’ve had to change how we make music as a group,” Rahija said. “In a way it’s actually the band that has had to adapt. Themes like simplicity, limitation and restraint are working their way into the new songs, whereas before we sometimes may have indulged ourselves in more bombast.”
In addition to a refreshed performance from the band, Rahija says Bombadil will unveil a few new tunes that will find their way onto the follow-up to Tarpits and Canyonlands.
“We just tracked 10 new songs in a big empty barn at Pendarvis Farms in Happy Valley, Oregon,” Rahiji said. “It’s a fun place — the farm hosts the music festival Pickathon each year. The Decemberists had just recorded a record there and had left their vinyl copy of [Neil Young's] Harvest nailed to one of the beams.”
Although Wednesday night’s show is sold out, fans can look forward to more live dates in Bombadil’s future as Michalak continues to heal and the band continues to grow and evolve.
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