Avett Brothers rock Coachella festival

INDIO, Calif. --

Concord's Avett Brothers ended a short tour of the Golden State Sunday with an impressive performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which has served as a stepping stone for bands such as the Killers and the Arcade Fire.
While Charlotteans know the Avetts' total knock-down-rock-out acoustic shows well, Coachella's alternative-/indie-rock-/electronica-focused crowd was largely new to the band's refreshingly rock approach to string music.

The band's 2:20 p.m. set easily won over hundreds of new converts.

The trio drew a respectable crowd that filled the large tent where Amy Winehouse and Amos Lee also played during the weekend. Many crowd members were already familiar with the band's aggressive string music, but others could be seen flipping through their schedules to find out who this energetic trio was.
"It was awesome," Seth Avett said shortly after the show.

"It was better than we could've hoped for."
Coachella, which was headlined by Bjork, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and a reunited Rage Against the Machine, featured only a handful of acoustic acts.
"We're proud to be invited to a festival of this magnitude, and be treated like we (are) back home," Seth Avett added.

Other acoustic artists like Gillian Welch, Nickel Creek, Willie Nelson joined the brothers on this year's eclectic bill. Both Welch and Nickel Creek played for much smaller crowds than they would have at MerleFest, the Americana music festival which was taking place simultaneously in Wilkesboro. In fact, the Avetts drew just as many people as the better-known Welch.

Their set highlighted romantic tunes, many from their last album "Four Thieves Gone," with impeccable harmonies producing an organic, emotional live show. With four years of hard touring behind them, the group stood in contrast to newer artists like Brit reggae-pop singer Lily Allen, who repeatedly forgot her own lyrics due (she said) to the overwhelming size of the crowd.
The trio celebrates the release of its newest album, "Emotionalism," on May 15, following CD release parties at the Trocadero Theatre in Philadelphia and Irving Plaza in New York.

The band will make three in-store appearances in North Carolina on the day-of-release: at Schoolkids Records in Raleigh, BB's Compact Discs in Greensboro, and Manifest Records in Charlotte.