Lord Huron and First Aid Kit at the Riverfront Park in Harrisburg
The Riverfront Park in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, felt like the scene of a summer indie film Saturday evening with First Aid Kit and Lord Huron providing the perfect soundtrack. While small boats passed along the river, people spread across the green grass, sipping freshly squeezed lemonade and eating ice cream and funnel cake. This was the fourth installment in Harrisburg University (HU) Presents’ Summer Concert Series, which has also included Death Cab for Cutie and The Roots in July and LANY the night before (check out our review here).
Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit opened the evening with their upbeat song ‘It’s a Shame’ from their 2018 album “Ruins.” They continued with my personal favorite ‘Angel’ that features a slow start before the punch of the drums and chorus bring everything to life. Throughout the set there were lots of hair flips and swinging of fringe. It was clear they were having fun on stage and that translated to the crowd having fun dancing along with them.
After First Aid Kit’s set, the crew quickly took down the banners on either side of the stage and brought on wooden mountains and cacti cutouts with LED lights to make the stage look like Joshua Tree National Park. When the lead singer, Ben Schneider, wasn’t playing guitar for a song, he could be seen climbing the mountain set pieces and standing high above the rest of the band. The setlist consisted of a few songs from each of their four previous albums, with a majority from “Strange Trails” (2015). As he has done for past shows on their 2022 tour, Schneider sported a skeleton mask as they performed ‘The World Ender’ and ‘Ancient Names Pt. II.’ In combination with Schneider’s western style suit, bolo tie and added cowboy hat, he resembled the skeleton featured on their tour posters and graphics. To no one’s surprise, the show closed with ‘The Night We Met” as the crowd swayed along to the soft melody.
Check out our Instagram for more photos. Photo Credit: Kate Atkinson
