Tim Barry, much like Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit, is one of those rare songwriters who has the ability to make me feel jubilant and heartbroken all at once. He writes with the fierce punk ethos of Avail, even when he’s self-admittedly failing at playing the guitar, when he’s intimated by crowd and using his terror at getting up with his guitar and playing in front of people who love him.

And last night was one of the best sets I’ve seen him do, if not the best — he was cheerful and laughing, telling long stories between songs, the serious ones and the funny ones, the sing-along choruses and the heartbreak of “Prosser’s Gabriel”. He has all that punk power behind his songs, and sometimes it can come across as angry and fierce in a bad way, but last night it was just engaging and uplifting. A lovely night; exactly what I was looking for, TIm’s brand of fuck you and keep going and rise up.

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Jenny Owen Youngs, who reminds of Samantha Crain slanted punk and indie instead of roots, and J Kutchma opened; they were both great, Jenny who I knew nothing of before this and J who I love but hadn’t seen solo in months and months. He’s so fantastic — his upcoming solo disc is going to be spectacular.

Full photo set is here.