Lake Street Dive Radiates Joy at Ascend Amphitheater

If Saturday’s stop at Ascend Amphitheater is any indication, Lake Street Dive’s current Good Together Tour is a mission to spread joy. If you have any objections, you probably haven’t had a personal experience with the Brooklyn pop-soul crew and their heavenly vocals and dance-ready beats.

The show kicked off with power-pop brother duo The Lemon Twigs, aka Brian and Michael D’Addario. The pair and their collaborators masterfully draw on the harmony-rich pop of ’60s and ’70s legends like The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Hollies. Even though Saturday’s four-man configuration of the group seemed dwarfed by the expansive stage, they caught the attention of everyone still hunting for their seat (or patch of lawn) with “Rock On: Over and Over,” the glam-kissed closer of their new LP A Dream Is All We Know.

The D’Addarios kept the mood light and convivial. When someone in the audience close enough for them to hear yelled, “Who inspires you?” they playfully responded by shouting out a series of random items including “bridges” and “the sky,” and Brian described Michael’s guitar solo in set standout “What You Were Doing” (from last year’s Everything Harmony) as “surprisingly short and humble.” The longer they were onstage, the more the atmosphere felt like the kind of college house party you don’t want to end.

However, the time came for them to make way for the band of the hour. Augmented by the horn section of fellow Brooklyn band Huntertones and singer-percussionist Nêgah Santos, Lake Street Dive took the stage, which was styled like an old-school jazz club. The synth intro to “Good Together” — the titular song from the band’s just-released album, their eighth full-length since they formed 20 years ago at the New England Conservatory of Music — cued up powerhouse singer Rachael Price. 

Decked out in a gold gown that coordinated with other members of the band (rather than matching up, they went with individual variations on the theme), Price shone brighter than the fading sun. And she didn’t miss a beat as she danced across the stage a little later during “Hypotheticals” from the group’s 2021 LP Obviously. The two songs form a neat pair, with the older one detailing the uncertainty of a new relationship and the newer one relaying how well it’s going. Nashville crowds aren’t known for their readiness to sing along, but Price needed only to gesture at us to elicit hundreds of voices finishing her line.

“I love the beginning of a show,” gushed Price, a onetime Nashvillian. “It symbolizes all the possibilities of the way things can go with the music, and every night we do things a little different.”

Then Price took a seat at the bar at the center of the stage — appropriately enough, as the band eased into the proto-disco groove of “Seats at the Bar.” Later they brought the funk with “Get Around,” and Akie Bermiss’ keyboard solo was a highlight of “Baby Don’t Leave Me Alone With My Thoughts.” 

The band gathered around one mic for fan favorite “Side Pony.” Price explained that they had gotten burned out on the hip-dipping titular song from their 2016 LP, which was inspired by her former love for the hairstyle and a metaphor for the band’s idiosyncratic blend of personalities. They once made a solemn vow to retire it permanently, but gave in after a tidal wave of fan requests; clearly, the Nashville crowd was ecstatic to have it back in the set list.

Introducing “Making Do,” a song the group wrote intending to normalize songs about climate change, drummer (and longtime environmentalist) Mike Calabrese mentioned the band's efforts to reduce the environmental impact of their tours through a partnership with nonprofit Reverb. Bermiss took the main vocal mic for a delicious soul-funk reinterpretation of Shania Twain’s “You’re Still the One” — one of the pleasantly few moments in the show when you could see lots of phones up to capture a digital memento. 

Later “Walking Uphill” offered spotlight moments for the whole ensemble, while newer band member James Cornelison’s swift and sweet guitar work had the crowd roaring. Before longtime catalog staple “You Go Down Smooth” bopped us into the encore — which featured the one-two punch of Hall & Oates’ immortal “Rich Girl” and LSD’s own rollicking “Good Kisser” — Bridget Kearney’s nimble bass and Bermiss’ synths worked in tandem to get the audience on their feet for “Dance With a Stranger.” 

The song’s command to turn someone you don’t know into someone you know well is a solid summation of the Lake Street Dive ethos, as well as a neat distillation of the message of Good Together — all about finding and holding onto joy in times of division and strife. And the band’s ever-expanding fan base is clearly responding: Though the expansion of their fan base has been slow, it’s been steady, and their tour includes their debut at hometown arena Madison Square Garden.