Live at the Varsity Theater
Written by: Matthew McGuire
Caravan of Thieves and Olivia Mainville are currently touring the country with fresh, acoustic music for live audiences worldwide. These two groups brought their original style to the Varsity Theater in Carbondale, Illinois on Saturday, March 21. Carbondale Music Coalition helped bring back the band to town, and the local community came out to support original live music.
Since my first time seeing Caravan of Thieves in 2012 at the Summer Camp Music Festival, I have continued to travel around the Midwest to see them live.
This show marker the second time the band has performed at the Varsity Theater in Carbondale. The first time they performed, I was stuck in Chicago with a broken down vehicle, and was distraught that I had missed the live performance.
It was a real treat to get to see them live this time around. For those that have not been able to see a show at the Varsity, it is an excellent venue for acoustics.
Olivia Mainville, a duo of acoustic guitar and upright bass opened the show. I arrived to the venue as they were going through soundcheck with Fuzz and Brian. Olivia’s intimate sound showcases an emerging artist with an knack in acoustic music.
Caravan of Thieves performed new tracks of their latest album, “Kiss Kiss” for the Carbondale crowd. Their new album is being released later this month, but the band had a few copies ready for the live audience.
I picked up the album, and wanted to include a short review on their latest body of work.
Kiss Kiss Album Review
The album is produced by Fuzz & Carrie Sangiovanni, and kicks off with ‘Disappear’. The band performed several tracks from the new album at the Carbondale show.
Ben and Brian provide an elegant touch to the album on bass and violin. It was great to reconnect with the band at the Carbondale show. Every show is like their bodies of work, it is always getting better.
Fuzz talked about how to build a song during song check with the C cord.
During the Carbondale show the band reference several love songs. I noticed on this album, ‘Dead Wrong’ and a pervious song, ‘Raise the Dead’ leads me to assume the band enjoys working on songs that emotional draw an audience in.
‘Parents’ provides a transparent look at those in the world that may have been lead astray. Watch the YouTube playlist for background on their latest album.