Written by: Geoff Tischman

I’m not a guy who’s prone to hyperbole, so when I say the Avett Brothers are one of the best live bands on the planet, you know I mean it.

The beloved North Carolina outfit played the Capitol Theater in New York the other night and they delivered one of the most dynamic sets I’ve seen all year.

With eleven winning albums under their musical belts, the band has plenty of originals like “Forever Now” and “Left On Laura, Left On Lisa,” which were fabulous, but they also threw in covers like Curly Fox’s “Black Mountain Rag” and the traditional number “Farewell Trion.”

During a quick acoustic run, Seth Avett changed the lyrics to “In The Curve” to “Port Chester” and he name checked the Capitol Theater, which was very cool, and when he was joined by brother Scott for an acoustic reading of “Famous Flower Of Manhattan” it was incredibly powerful and moving.

The show closed on a brilliant three-song encore: “Pretty Girl From Raleigh,” “Nothing Short Of Thankful,” and “Swept Away.”

Nothing worse than staring down the last third of the season, but the Avett Brothers’ spirit-lifting set made me feel like the summer just might last forever.