Seattle’s 6-piece the Head and the Heart slunk their way onto my radar last year, when praise for their luminous self-titled debut started to show up on the blogs I know and trust to recommend to me the best in new indie roots rock; I picked up their album, downloaded their Daytrotter, and fell head over heels crying at my desk in love with them the first time I listened to the album. It doesn’t feel like a city album, not really; it feels like a Wyoming sort of album, all big skies and open spaces, and they are all the more magical live, in a space with acoustics as beautiful as the Lincoln.

It was a night of three bands — including Thao & the Get Down Stay Down and the Devil Whale — that love what they do beyond belief, alive and fierce and wild onstage; the crowd sang along and it rang out above our heads, and it’s why I believe in music. More photos behind the jump, and a full set here.

If you haven’t checked the Head & the Heart out yet, you can grab their Daytrotter set here, and their Fuel/Friend Chapel Session here.