 |
| The Lumineers @ Chase Center (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Despite headlining multiple nights at ballparks like Boston's Fenway Park and playing stadiums like Chicago's Soldier Field and Seattle's T-Mobile Park, The Lumineers appearance at San Francisco's Chase Center on Tuesday marked their biggest venue yet in The City. The near sell-out crowd was witness to a night that deftly combined the grandiosity of a stadium show with the intimacy of a theater concert in a city that the band had both professional and personal history.
 |
| Wesley Schultz of The Lumineers @ the Chase Center (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Founders Wesley Schultz (lead singer, guitarist) and Jeremiah Fraites (drums, percussion, guitar, piano) led the band into storming the stage with a fast and powerful version of "Same Old Song" – the first song off their current 2025 record "Automatic." Throughout the concert, the band alternated between coming forward to perform on the thrust stage for great moments of the connection with the crowd and falling back to the main stage for the lights, background visuals and set that one would expect from a big arena show.
 |
| The Lumineers @ Chase Center (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
The entire band came forward for "Flower in Your Hair" – which Schultz noted as "the first song off our first album" as his fellow multi-instrumentalists launched the song with Lauren Jacobson on violin, Byron Isaacs on bass, Fraites on kick drum and Stelth Ulvang on accordion. Ulvang was in motion and a blur all night. Climbing up on top of his piano at points to wave his arms to the crowd and leaping time and again off various stage objects. While all of the band was energetic and sent positive energy out into the crowd, Ulvang stood out as head cheerleader delivering with an endearing and authentic positive charisma.
 |
| The Lumineers @ Chase Center (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Understandably, the band's first monster hit "Ho Hey" drew a huge reaction and had everyone out of their seats as the band performed it all up front. "That song was a breakup song," Schultz told the audience afterward. "This next one is a romantic song, so if you're a romantic, here's 'Dead Sea'". As Fraites played on a drum kit that rose in the middle of the ramp leading to the thrust stage, the rest of the band was demonstrative and interacting non-stop with the audience. As Schultz held the song's most memorable note for a seeming eternity, he removed his hat as the crowd roared and appeared to wipe a few tears from his eyes.
 |
| Wesley Schultz of The Lumineers @ Chase Center (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
As the band began "Brightside", with Fraites on guitar and the rest of the band centered around a lone microphone around him, Schultz jumped down to the arena floor and sang the song as he walked down the aisle and around the entire floor of the arena making contact with fans.
"Sleep on the Floor" was punctuated by band members climbing on top of stage objects to lead clapping and giant confetti cannons spraying confetti into the crowd while Isaacs pounded away on the giant bass drum at stage left. For "Gloria", Ulvang added a unique percussive touch as he pounded away on his piano with drumsticks and the song reached the peak of the concert's energy.
 |
| Jeremiah Fraites of The Lumineers @ Chase Center (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
There were many other highlight moments in the night's performance. Stripped down versions of "Keys on the Table" and the new song "Automatic" – with just Schultz and Fraites – demonstrated the band's ability to connect deeply with the crowd without having to display the physical activity of so many other songs. On the other end, "Ophelia" saw Schultz and Ulvang out on the thrust stage throwing tambourines back and forth all the way across to each other (it appeared they had a 100% success rate in their musical version of "catch").
 |
| Wesley Schultz of The Lumineers @ Chase Center (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
"Big Parade" saw a huge spinning carousel wheel projected over the stage with every member of the band taking a turn singing as Schultz introduced them. Schultz announced that Jacobson had made a half-court shot backwards earlier in the day. When he went to introduce co-founder Fraites, Schultz joked "I've been playing music with this next guy for twenty years. And for twenty years, he's been wearing the same shit every night. White t-shirt, suspenders and a top hat."
 |
| Jeremiah Fraites of The Lumineers @ Chase Center (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Late in the concert, Schultz got extremely transparent and personal with the crowd sharing about his younger brother, Sam who shockingly passed away in May at 39 and the connection they had to San Francisco. "I am coming out to you with a pretty heavy heart – my whole band is as well – a couple days ago this Sunday we just had a funeral for my little brother. came back from the funeral of my little brother. He was 39 and passed away out of nowhere…they said it was a heart attack and just bad luck," Schultz told the completely hushed crowd.
 |
| Wesley Schultz of The Lumineers @ Chase Center (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
"And I had this really great, powerful memory of him. It was probably 2011 and we were playing here in San Francisco at Café du Nord. My brother lived in San Francisco until he very recently moved to Denver. So, this was his home. His name was Sam and now two kids. So, he came to the show, and he could see that things were starting to take off. He was so proud at the time…and he just started crying. He was so proud of us and me. I was so proud of him. He was the most amazing guy and my best friend. And I've been trying to play these concerts for him…This is for my brother Sam," Schultz said, seeming to wipe away a few tears.
 |
| Wesley Schultz & Jeremiah Fraites of The Lumineers @ Chase Center (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
The band then launched into a touching acoustic cover of Justin Bieber's "Ghost" as many in the young audience seemed to sing along and know all the lyrics to sing along with the song. As he finished the song and turned his back and stepped out of the spotlights, Schultz's fellow band members came to him one-by-one to rub his back, touch his shoulder or offer another form of physical comforting. It was a poignant and memorable moment that those up close could witness.
 |
| Wesley Schultz of The Lumineers @ Chase Center (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
They ended the concert returning to the thrust stage out front. First, with a powerful version of "Cleopatra" – with Schultz once again thanking the crowd with "This is the biggest show we've ever played in San Francisco. So, thank you!" They then closed the show with a rollicking version of "Stubborn Love" that saw Ulvang going deep into the crowd on the floor level before climbing up over the glass into the 100s level to finish the song.
Thanks for reading and while you're at it, you can follow us as well here: Instagram | Facebook.
