Tennessee-based rock band Colony House rocked The Sinclair in Cambridge Oct. 7 for their “77 Tour (Pt.1)” with a strong collection of songs ranging from hits to deep cuts and from powerful heavy rock to sentimental acoustic pieces.
The tour is named for the band’s newly released album, “77 (Pt.1),” which was released Sept. 5. As remarked upon during the show, the seven song album put them over 100 released songs, “It makes it hard to cut it down to a 20 song setlist for y’all,” said lead singer and guitarist, Caleb Chapman.
Happy Landing, a Mississippi-based indie folk band, opened up the audience to the vibes of the night. With a blend of rock and folk, drawing inspiration from The Lumineers and Caamp, they created a vibe that was simultaneously very energetic yet down-to-earth. Their song “October” specifically mentions Boston, as the band has many connections to the city, including their guitarist being from nearby Walpole.
Colony House, meanwhile, does not have particular connections to Boston, though according to Setlist.fm, the band has played in the city a whopping 13 times, including twice at the Sinclair in 2016 and 2017, a fact Chapman mentioned during the show.
The band started their set with “77” and “Highwire” from their latest album, before going into their second biggest hit, the bold and dramatic “Silhouettes.” The band put their all into this song, including Chapman singing and running around in the crowd for the latter part of the song.
The energy would continue all throughout the band’s songs, with songs like “Would Ya Could Ya,” “El Capitan” and “Cannonballers” getting the crowd dancing and singing along to the songs. Even deep cuts like “Do You Ever Feel” and “You And I” would motivate the crowd with their energy and maintain it throughout the show.
Despite the energy, the theme of the night was quite tender, being represented by the phrase “you’re right where you’re meant to be,” which hung on a banner behind the crowd. The band made this clear throughout the night through their songs, including an unreleased one named after that message, “Waiting for My Time to Come” from their debut album “When I Was Younger” and “Moving Forward,” which Chapman played solo with an acoustic guitar from the audio booth.
The band’s songs also surprised the audience, with “What’s It Gonna Take” from their newest album being an anthem about the rise in violence in the United States. This song serves as a notable departure from the rest of the band’s discography. During the song, the band unfurled a banner with the song’s title on it, and the song itself made pretty specific references to recent events in the United States, “Another gun in the hallway / Another march down the mainstreet.”
While the band didn’t play a proper encore, before “Moving Forward,” Chapman said, “You can consider this the encore.” In the encore, they played the slow burner, “Looking For Some Light,” before launching into an extremely energetic closer with their 2016 hit single “You Know It.” A song that promises that they will be back “before you know it.”
