On the last leg of her West coast Want tour, Esther Rose and her band packed out the Hi-Dive in Denver, CO. Accompanied by Thomas Dollbaum and Patrick Dethlefs, the trio set brought warmth and fellowship to the crowded room.
This was not Rose’s first time playing at the Hi-Dive. She shared her love for the venue, then reflected back to when she opened for Dylan Earl’s album release show last October. Just six months later, she headlined a sold-out show at this cozy, downtown Denver venue.
Esther Rose Social Links
Patrick Dethlefs opened the night with a nostalgic, tranquil set on acoustic guitar, accompanied by Miles Eichner on electric. The two harmonized their instruments while Patrick sang tunes off his two albums If You Listen and Essential Poems. Dethlefs also highlighted his latest record Patty, performing Why Not Try and Forgiveness Ain’t Forgetting. He gave each song its deserved recognition, preceding each tune with the source of their inspiration.
Thomas Dollbaum opened for Rose throughout the tour. There was now a somewhat more vigorous energy to the stage with himself and his guitar. He strummed songs off earlier records Wellswood and Drive All Night.
Dollbaum invited up Esther to duet the chorus of Angus Valley. He gave the crowd a peek into his unreleased album Birds of Paradise, unveiling the song Dozen Roses before making his way to the merch table for the night.
The platform was built perfectly to welcome Rose and her full band. She and long-time band mate Kunal Prakash, balanced the acoustics on their hollow body guitars. Sliding on the steel guitar was J.R. Bohannon. Jeremy Buethe was found plucking the bass and singing back up while Ray Micarelli kept the beat on drums.
Esther gazed into the crowd, starting things off with her hit New Bad. She persevered with a smile despite the feedback making it’s way into the chorus. The set was naturally filled with songs off of Want. She shared the story of writing Had To while on tour with The Deslondes several years ago. Older hits from Safe to Run were added throughout the night. Songs from her first album This Time Last Night also made an appearance.
Rose then invited friend Theo Katzman on stage to sing ‘Ketamine’ together.
Thomas Dollbaum was also called up to introduce an unreleased song with her. The duet started off delicately, ending with Esther romping around a mob of admirers as she reminded us
“Life is too short
to be shy!”
During the chorus of Money Tree she inspirited the crowd to shout “Fuck Donald Trump!”, which was embraced and bellowed back in unison. One of the band members said that was the best chant on tour so far.
Esther’s lyrics denote the humility in saying exactly what is in the heart without negotiation. Her songs steadily teeter between a softer and edgier side of human emotion. She fearlessly executes her tune’s energy on stage, encouraging people to really let loose and enjoy themselves.
She will be starting her Want tour back up in June. The west coast tour sold out seven out of ten shows, so keep on your toes buying tickets. She actively drops Easter eggs on social media of future content and things in the works. Be sure to follow her and her mates!
