Focusing almost entirely on songs from their great new record With Light and With Love, Woods played before an enthusiastic crowd near the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University in downtown Richmond, VA Sunday night.

I flew down Sunday morning for the show and came back to New York 24 hours later.

Woods went on at about 11 PM and played for 62 minutes. They performed every song on the new record except for New Light which given its greatness is bound to surface in the live setting at some point. The set list Sunday night mirrored the one Woods followed at their Brooklyn warm-up gig last week. The only difference was that Woods tacked on two tunes at the end of the Richmond show. After a full band huddle on stage at the end of their main set to discuss an encore, Woods front man Jeremy Earl led us on a visit to the Feather Man for “boiled peanuts and a man’s best friend.” Earl’s sweet, pitch-perfect croon on this number brought a smile to a crowd that tilted young but ran the gamut age-wise.

This was night three of a string of 18 Woods dates over 22 days. All of the shows are in cities within the Eastern or Central time zones which makes this run of gigs a little less harsh from a travel (via van) standpoint than previous Woods tours. The challenge for the band on this stretch of performances is an effort to hone delivery of the gem-filled collection of songs on Light/Love in the live setting. Without the benefit of significant rehearsal time as a full unit, Woods is working out kinks on these new ones as they go along. All of them sounded great to me with minor glitches here and there. The one song that failed to come together completely was Moving to the Left which is understandable given the complexity of the sounds and the momentum shifts that occur within it. The Presley slide guitar line on Full Moon was nearly inaudible on the floor when Jarvis Taveniere played it early in the set but that was a technical issue that got sorted out soon after. Cali in a Cup was one of just four non-Light/Love songs that were played. It got a huge audience response as it always seems to. John Andrews of Quilt played the harmonica part on that song. Andrews was positioned stage right. He sat on a barstool behind a Rheem keyboard (and what appeared to a smaller Yamaha unit resting on top of it). Andrews’ contributions to the Woods sound are really important given the high usage of organ/keyboard sound layers on the new record. Andrews plays drums in Quilt, the band opening for Woods on this tour. Quilt’s set was met with a very warm expression of support. A couple of times between songs during their set, Quilt’s Anna Rochinski blushed a bit over the loud ovations that punctuated conclusions to their numbers.

As Woods fans know by now, this tour commences a new curve in the band’s long, winding road. Kevin Morby is gone pursuing a solo career and big shoes are left to be filled.

It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that Woods settled on a replacement. His name is Chuck van Dyck. Taveniere introduced van Dyck (pictured above) to the Richmond crowd between songs. Listed as the guitar player in the newish Brooklyn band Marvin Berry and the New Sound, van Dyck’s new job in Woods is a wonderful opportunity given what’s on the band’s docket in 2014.

Listed below are the songs Woods played in Richmond. I failed to recognize the last tune of the night and didn’t stick around to ask.

1. Leaves Like Glass
2. Full Moon
3. Cali in a Cup
4. Shining
Intense interlude into…
5. Bend Beyond (a few fans scream during the Earl guitar solos)
Another interlude into…
6. Size Meets the Sound
7. Shepherd
8. Only The Lonely
9. Moving to the Left
10. Twin Steps
11. With Light And With Love
—————————————-
12. Feather Man (dedicated to the Punt King)
13. Unknown song – perhaps a cover?

Admission (bought in advance) was $13.65 and Bud bottles were $3.50. This was the third time Woods has performed at Strange Matter. I liked the club. It has an ill-conceived Southpaw-like bottleneck near where the audience fills the main passageway gap but it’s not a big deal. The bartenders were friendly. I was a little surprised at the big turnout given it was a Sunday night. The band Perfect Pussy was playing at another club nearby as was Alejandro Escovedo at a bar near the state capitol.

I’d never been to Richmond. It was kinda ghost-townish downtown as I guess a lotta state capitol cities are. On the mile-long walk back to the hotel after the show, I didn’t encounter a single human being and only a couple passing vehicles.

I had a jerk chicken sandwich and a couple of Buds at Empire on Broad Street before the show. The bartender turned on the Nets game for me. Metal played at a moderate volume over the sound system. The women next to me started off their visit to the Empire with Fireball shots. Later at Strange Matter, I noticed more people ordering Fireball. I stuck to Bud.

There’s no viable public transit option to and from Richmond’s airport. The Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC) operates what’s known as the 56 bus connecting the airport to downtown but it doesn’t run on weekends and makes only three trips daily on weekdays. This leaves visitors staying downtown with just two choices. Rental car or taxi. I opted for the taxi which cost $35 each way.

The air carrier I work for cancelled its first Monday flight to Newark. I ended up getting the last seat on a 6 AM departure to LaGuardia on a competing airline. This was a seriously lucky outcome.

From Richmond, Woods and Quilt (traveling in separate vans) drove to Asheville, NC for a show Monday night. The tour concludes in NYC two weeks from Friday with a show at Bowery Ballroom. It was recently announced that Frankie Cosmos was added to that bill which will make it extra fun.

One aside about the new Woods record: When I listened to the song Full Moon for the first time, I immediately heard George Harrison’s My Sweet Lord. I composed a tweet to that effect on April 8, 2014. I’m sure lots of people’s ears heard the same thing. It’s pretty obvious. But it was still freaky to hear what John Richards did on his radio show on KEXP a week later. On April 16, 2014, Richards did the Full Moon into My Sweet Lord segue. It worked beautifully.