One of the hardest working indie bands in the business broke through in 2014 with their hit single “Seasons (Waiting On You)” and played their 1000th show in 2015 while celebrating their 10th Anniversary in 2016. Future Islands is Samuel T. Herring (vocals, lyrics), William Cashion (bass, guitars), and Gerrit Welmers (keyboards, programming), an art-electro pop band out of Baltimore and originally from Greenville, North Carolina. If you’ve been lucky enough to catch any of those over 1000 shows, Future Islands is the band you’ll never forget.
Future Islands have been coming to Atlanta to play for as long as they’ve been a band, with shows at a multitude of venues of all sizes, from 97 Estoria to one of Atlanta’s best and largest indoor venues, Tabernacle. Touring behind their latest release, The Far Field (April 2017 via 4AD), Future Islands took to the large stage of the Tabernacle and did what they’ve done so many times before. No matter the stage size, it’s barely going to contain frontman Samuel T. Herring, only serving to give him more room to work.
With William, Gerrit and the band set with their own slightly raised stage and attached to their instruments, Samuel was given free reign with the whole front stage to himself. Future Islands’ songs cover a wide spectrum of emotions from grief, to depression, longing, joy, and hope. And every single drop of emotion from these songs comes through live via Samuel T. Herring. He’s the sincerest man in Rock ‘n’ Roll, and at the top of the list of modern day frontman. Yeah, they may all appear to be just some regular dudes (and maybe that’s what makes it so great, because they are), but as soon as you see Herring lose his shit on stage, his infectious presence scoops you right up into Future Islands’ gigs. With his signature heavy growl, Herring bounces around the stage with some of the weirdest and dopest dance moves around.
The highly animated frontman feels the emotion of every note he sings, and it literally pours out of him throughout the set. Could there be anything better for an audience? Herring’s ability to let loose only encourages his audience to join him. And join him we did.
Future Islands played a setlist that spanned at least 4 of their albums, of course with plenty from their last 2 breakthrough albums. The band jumped right in with “Beauty of the Road” off of The Far Field and soon as Samuel belted “That soft breath on the back of my neck, got me running running running…” the build in the crowd had risen with Sam, and we were all ready to dance the night away. As the synths rang throughout the Tab on “A Dream of You and Me” off of Singles, the audience joined Herring to sing in the lyrics. The band played the hits – “Ran”, “Cave, “A Dream of You and Me”, “Seasons” and my personal favorite, the emotional “A Song For Our Grandfathers” throughout the evening. All exhilarating and phenomenal. The show also gave light to some of the non single album tracks, such as the groovy “North Star”, “Aladdin” and “Through the Roses”. Future Islands closed down the night to a standing ovation with “Spirit” off of 2014’s Singles. The band played a large, career spanning set, but there wasn’t a soul in that building that was ready for the show to end. And like every single one of Future Islands’ over 1100 concerts they’ve played, the people that saw them for the first time that night at the Tabernacle left with a smile on their face, free of whatever previous worries they had, and talking about that Samuel T. Herring. Yeah I wanna party with that dude too. But I’ll settle for seeing their live show whenever they come to town…..
Check out Mike Gerry‘s photos of Future Islands at Tabernacle Atlanta on September 7th:
Tabernacle Setlist:
“Beauty of the Road”
“Ran”
“A Dream of You and Me”
“Time On Her Side”
“Walking Through That Door”
“North Star”
“Long Flight”
“Balance”
“Cave”
“Through the Roses”
“A Song For Our Grandfathers”
“Aladdin”
“Inch of Dust”
“Seasons (Waiting On You)”
“Tin Man”
“Spirit”
iPhone Proof That It Happened
Upcoming Future Island Tour Dates
September
15th – Meow Wolf, Sante Fe, NM, US [TICKETS]
17th – Open Air Theatre, San Diego CA, US ^ [TICKETS]
19th – Greek Theatre, Los Angeles CA, US [TICKETS]
22nd – Crystal Ballroom, Portland OR, US [TICKETS]
23rd – Neptune Theatre, Seattle WA, US [TICKETS]
27th – The Wilma, Missoula MA, US [TICKETS]
28th – Pink Garter Theatre, Jackson WY, US [TICKETS]
29th – The Fillmore, Denver CO, US [TICKETS]
30th – The Waiting Room Outside, Omaha NE, US ^ [TICKETS]
October
1st – First Ave, Minneapolis MN, US [TICKETS]
2nd – Orpheum Theatre, Madison WI, US [TICKETS]
5th – Royal Oak Music Theatre, Royal Oak MI, US [TICKETS]
6th – Massey Hall, Toronto ON, Canada [TICKETS]
7th – Metropolis Theatre, Montreal QC, Canada [TICKETS]
9th – Orpheum Theatre, Boston MA, US [TICKETS]
26th – Compensa, Vilnius, Lithuania [TICKETS]
27th – Rock Café, Tallin, Estonia [TICKETS]
29th – Circus, Helsinki, Finland [TICKETS]
31st – Münchenbryggeriet, Stockholm, Sweden [TICKETS]
November
1st – Pustervik, Gothenberg, Sweden [TICKETS]
2nd – Pustervik, Gothenberg, Sweden [TICKETS]
4th – Sentrum Scene, Oslo, Norway [TICKETS]
6th – Docks, Hamburg, Germany [TICKETS]
8th – Theaterfabrik, Munich, Germany [TICKETS]
9th – Den Atelier, Luxembourg, Luxembourg [TICKETS]
10th – Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Belgium [TICKETS]
13th – Paradiso, Amsterdam, The Netherlands [TICKETS]
14th – Paradiso, Amsterdam, The Netherlands [TICKETS]
16th – La Laiterie, Strasbourg, France [TICKETS]
17th – L’Epicerie Moderne, Feyzin, France [TICKETS]
18th – L’Aeronef, Euralille, France [TICKETS]
