Saturday night at the High Noon Saloon was one of the finest mixed goodie bags of live music I’ve recently had the pleasure of reaching my hand into. Dietrich Gosser and Jeremiah Nelson promptly plunged into their set, showcasing a knack for quiet, captivating songs consisting solely of acoustic guitar, vocals, and lap steel. Local songstress Anna Vogelzang lent her vocals to a few numbers mid-set, and the female harmonies perfectly complimented their folk sound. The atmosphere was ripe for Field Report.
Cameron McGill & What Army stormed the stage soon after, surprising — I think — everyone in attendance. McGill (on keys) led the band around downtown Chicago and back again, crooning and howling his way through songs about lonely big city nights. Sex, hookers, and booze fired from McGill’s mouth, sounding as if Father John Misty had ditched the country for the city. The backing band was at times loud and brash and at others smooth and cool, but they killed it for the entirety of the set. The saxophonist awesomely rounded out their full, tightly wound sound.
It was well after 11 PM when Field Report took the stage. They opted to open their set with album closer “Route 18,” which began the eventual backwards-bookending of their record. I hadn’t seen a show of theirs since they opened for Megafaun (way back in March), and their recent national tours showed. They intricately wove through their debut; each song was a well-crafted soundscape, built on sparse synths and touches of pedal steel and drums.
Main man Chris Porterfield kept the banter at a minimum during the night (with the exception of one iffy off-color joke) but remained animated throughout his songs of personal struggle. Pounding his fists and slapping his chest for emphasis, he seemed as enthralled by the world in which his songs exist as the crowd was. For the majority of the set the band built up an almost unbearable tension, sharply ceasing each song and promptly beginning the next. Field Report presented every track as a question purposefully left unanswered, presumably because there wasn’t one.
After a tense nine tracks, the harness finally came off. Enter album opener “Fergus Falls,” an eruption made possible solely due to the perfect placement of each song in the set list, further confirming the band’s immense attention to detail. After playing the album through, Porterfield and Co. very fittingly put a haunting spin on Neil Young’s “Borrowed Tune” and closed the show with non-album cut “Dustbowl.” High Noon was the quietest I’ve ever heard it on Saturday, and the place was packed. This is a testament to Field Report — their listeners are toiling over every detail, just as they do.