A hot summer night with Dermot Kennedy in St. Louis

Dermot Kennedy brought The Weight of the Woods Tour to Saint Louis Music Park on one of those St. Louis nights where the heat hangs around long after the sun starts going down. The stage was one of the more interesting parts of the setup; it was designed to look like rolling green hills, which fit the more natural, stripped-back feel of the show without being too distracting. It gave the whole stage a different look than the usual screens-and-lights setup you see on a lot of tours.

Jonah Kagen opened the night, with a short set that fit well with Kennedy’s sound.. His acoustic, singer-songwriter style gave the crowd an easy introduction to the night. By the time it was headliner time, it was so extremely hot that just standing around before the set started felt like work… although you couldn’t tell from the crowd’s response once Dermot Kennedy came on.

Kennedy’s voice was the main focus.

It’s rough, heavy, easy to recognize, and carries especially well live. A lot of his songs start quietly and build slowly, so the show had plenty of moments where the crowd settled down before the full band came back in.

The newer material from Kennedy’s The Weight of the Woods fit in easily with his older, more familiar songs and the set never felt overly produced. Even with the unusual stage design, most of the attention stayed on Kennedy, the band, and the songs themselves.

The heat made the night feel heavier than usual, but the temperatures also added to the atmosphere. By the end, the crowd was tired, sweaty, but still singing along. Till next time!

Photography by Sean Rider

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