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Gillian Welch & David Rawlings @ The Astro Theater
September 14, 2024 @ 8:00 pm
Venue presale begins on Thursday, July 25 at 10AM with code ASTRO. General on-sale starts Friday, July 26 at 10AM on Ticketmaster.com.
Welch and Rawlings have been singing together since the early ’90s, and onstage, each can discern what the other needs with just a quick exchange of glances or the tap of a foot. That level of trust extends outward, drawing the audience into a tight circle of intimacy. Welch sings with her entire face — when a song bends toward joy, she almost can’t help smiling, and when a song bends toward sorrow, she looks contemplative, sometimes heartbroken, sometimes resigned to whatever the song’s fate may be. But her voice is consistent and clear, always. It resonates in the heart first: She sings as though she’s either mourning or preparing to mourn. Rawlings is the more animated of the two — he’s tall and athletic and energized. When he plays his guitar, his entire upper body twists and turns in small but ferocious movements. Their combined voices operate beyond simple sonic harmony. There are emotional inquiries at play. If Welch’s voice delivers the good news or the hard news of the world, Rawlings’s voice comes underneath, asking how much deeper the sadness can go or what fresh heights the ecstatic can climb to. – Hanif Abdurraqib – The New York Times Magazine