Looking Back
You may have seen the Shelters perform at the 2017 MusiCares Person of the Year tribute ceremony in honor of Tom Petty as part of this year’s Grammy’s. I first caught the Shelters last year, opening for The Wild Feathers.There was a song I was drawn to, but couldn’t find it anywhere. It wasn’t out yet! They hadn’t released their first full length, so I decided, I would have see them perform again.
If you’ve ever enjoyed a song by an opening band so much that you had to listen to them and find out what that song was, then you know how I was feeling. Sure Rebel Heart is blowing up, and Liar is on it’s heals, but those weren’t the song. There was a quick, pulsing, and polished sound to this song that came from a bluesy guitar riff that got everyone in the place moving. From the first three notes, without warning, we were hit with it.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait long to find out which song it was. Their self-titled release came out in June. Never Look Behind Ya’—only the 6th most listened to Shelters song currently on Spotify has been spammed by me more than anyone else on the internet. The recording is a spot on duplicate of their live performance, but it has to be experienced live.
Finally!
I got a second dose of it last week when they performed at Express Live. They were part of the local radio station’s CD102.5 Day (Side A) with the Cold War Kids, Mondo Cozmo, Hembree, and local favorite Personal Public.
Chase, Josh and Jacob battled it out together on stage (respectively).
Sebastian Harris grabs his own bit of the spotlight and does it well!
It was great to see the band again that first caught my attention with their live performance — this time having heard their studio release several times. Of course, they played Never Look Behind Ya’ with the same intensity.
