Josh Ritter with Gregory Alan Isakov at the Fitzgerald Theatre, 2/03/14

Gregory Alan Isakov during his opening set.

Josh Ritter is one of my perennial favorites, so when I heard he was doing a solo, acoustic tour, I jumped on buying tickets.

Gregory Alan Isakov opened. I hadn't heard him before, but his singing and especially his guitar-playing are beautiful, and if you're a fan of Josh Ritter (or Turnpike Troubadours/John Fullbright or Alexi Murdoch), you should probably check him out. He said he usually plays with a band, and that the solo tour "terrified" him. He needn't have been scared, though, because his performance was great.

Josh Ritter's "solo, acoustic" set turned out to be sort of neither thing. He brought two members of his band to accompany him, and they played primarily guitar and bass, though they played mandolin and various other instruments from time to time. There was no drumset, which is perhaps what they meant by "acoustic," though mostly bands don't tour with electric drumsets, so think what you want about that. Perhaps they meant it would be relatively quiet and take place in a theatre that had seats and balconies and things. The Fitzgerald is a swanky place, normally the radio home of A Prairie Home Companion, and situated in the heart of downtown Saint Paul.

Ritter and company.

The setlist was heavy with songs from Ritter's most recent record, The Beast in Its Tracks, which I appreciated. It's an album about winter and divorce, and it sort of fit my mood perfectly on a February night. Ritter is from Idaho, originally, and commented on being pleased to be back in a snowy place. I can't share his snow-related happiness -- but he did play "Snow Is Gone", much to my delight. Message-wise, it was wishful thinking, at best, but everything about that song's tempo and refrain makes me happy.

Other favorites from previous records surfaced. "Wolves" made an appearance, with Ritter on his knees at the front of the stage, howling, as he tends to do. The audience got into it, much to my surprise. My biggest misgiving about seated shows is that the audience so rarely gets into the show in the same way as at standing shows. This one didn't let me down, though.

Ritter and co. during "Wolves".

Ritter is prone to weird rambling interludes. Last time I saw him perform, he had been through a really recent divorce, and his monologues were mostly about marriage -- how hopeful an idea it
was, that you could spend your whole life with another person. This time, it was much lighter in tone. He rambled about the first house he bought, in Moscow, Idaho, using the first payment he got from his first record deal. He rambled about how the Fitzgerald had originally been a temple to Thor -- that the Mississippi river's source was right below the stage -- and then demanded the theatre turn out all of the lights. He played "Lillian, Egypt" in the pitch dark, alone on his acoustic guitar. It was sort of a weird experience, sitting in the total darkness with hundreds of strangers, staring into the dark where Ritter was playing.

Ritter and co. with Gregory Alan Isakov during the encore.

Eventually, the lights came back on. Ritter hit the highlights, for me -- "The Temptation of Adam", "New Lover", "Bonfire", "Kathleen", "Girl in the War". The only song I really wanted to hear but didn't was "Next to the Last True Romance".

The encore was largely about "Wait for Love", which turned into a giant round with the crowd participating. The lights faded to total blackness again, and everyone sang together for a few minutes. It was a nice way to end a show that had spanned Ritter's catalogue and the range of emotion in his songs. He was funny, sad, honest. Mostly, he was just joyful -- you get the feeling, seeing him on stage, that nothing makes him happier than performing. That's refreshing.