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Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit stage two powerful shows at the Palace

March 04, 2024

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit performing at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul on Saturday, March 2, 2024.Sara Fish for MPR

Saturday night at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit were ripping through a performance of “Overseas” off their 2020 Reunions album. Then Isbell became aware of a medical emergency in the audience.

Stopping the song abruptly, in a calm voice, Isbell drew attention to the scene and asked the crowd to remain silent so that Palace Theatre personnel and other first responders could hear each other. He reassured the audience that he and his band would start the song over when it was safe to do so. When chatter started to resurface, Isbell gently silenced that with a bit of humor. “Please be quiet,” he calmly urged, “if you absolutely need to say something, type it out on your phone and just show it.”

It was a moment that highlighted how much Isbell cares for his fans and anyone in his orbit. “I think part of what I’m trying to do in an overall sense,” Jason Isbell told The Bitter Southerner magazine last September, “is … to show people that you can take care of yourself and take care of your mind and take care of the people that you love and still f*****g rock.”

At the Palace Theatre on Saturday night, Isbell proved all of the above.

In a concert that spanned 18 songs over an hour and 45 minutes, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit kept the audience rapt with big rockers, generous jams, and tender ballads. Coming off a recent Grammy win for Best Americana Album for Weathervanes, Isbell and company began with a surprise, kicking off the Saturday show in St. Paul with “Stockholm,” a cut from 2013’s Southeastern album. Then they turned up the rock with blistering performances of Weathervanes cuts “When We Were Close” and “Save The World” — on the latter of which Isbell and guitarist Sadler Vaden engaged in the first of what would be several conversations held entirely on guitar (more on that later).

“We’re so happy to be here,” Isbell said after the third song in the setlist, giving extra props to the city of St. Paul. He also said he and his band would make their way to Duluth — “where they’re making Nick Offerman’s underwear,” a sly nod to the Duluth Trading Company (now based in Bellville, Wisconsin, but why split hairs?).

Isbell deftly sprinkled introductions and anecdotes about each of his bandmates, remembering, for example, the first song he performed with drummer Chad Gamble (“Alabama Pines”), or the song he sang to multi-instrumentalist Will Johnson the first time they met 23 years ago (“Decoration Day”), not to mention remembering the hometowns of all of his bandmates, including bassist Anna Butterss, who hails from Adelaide, Australia. Keyboardist Derry deBorja got several plaudits during the show, and guitarist Sadler Vaden — described by Isbell as looking “cool as sh*t” — sang lead vocals on a Drivin N Cryin cover, “Honeysuckle Blue.” (Notably, there were no single-use plastic water bottles onstage; each band member sipped from a reusable beverage container.)

There were rock chops aplenty as Vaden and a smiling Isbell stood face to face during several songs, trading guitar licks, calls and responses, or Thin Lizzy-style harmonies. Isbell has explained that the songs on Weathervanes were written while he was working on the Martin Scorsese-directed film, Killers of the Flower Moon, including “King of Oklahoma,” another song with a riffing tête à tête between Isbell and Vaden. While much is made — deservedly so — of Isbell as a lyricist, seeing the band perform live spotlights Isbell’s talent as a composer. His virtuosic solo work was evidence of this, including a jazz-inflected interlude during “Decoration Day.”

A man plays electric guitar onstage — Jason Isbell of Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit performing at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul on Saturday, March 2, 2024.
Sara Fish for MPR

Punctuating the music experience was a spectacular light show designed by lighting tech Ian Thompson, and the swirling combination of music and lights suggested a lyric in “If You Insist” as it tore through the Palace “like a category five” hurricane.

Although Isbell’s set contained big rock moments — the crescendo was a passionate performance of “Miles” — the quieter spells were equally moving. Legions of loyal fans sang along with “Last of My Kind” and “Alabama Pines,” and stood in reverent wonder at Isbell’s acoustic renderings of “Cast Iron Skillet,” “Cover Me Up,” and “If We Were Vampires.”

New York rock band Palehound opened the show, kicking out a lively set of guitar- and lyric- driven, melodic post-punk. Palehound frontperson El Kempner noted Palehound are used to playing the 7th Street Entry, and they complimented the friendly staff at the Palace and described it as “a sick venue.” Palehound’s style fits neatly with Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit: in particular, guitar-based rock songs with personal lyrics, and a frontperson who is as much a singer-songwriter as a highly technical guitar player.

Kempner also spoke to the care Isbell shows for his touring partners, telling the audience that Isbell & the 400 Unit share lighting tech Thompson and guitar techs Michael Bethancourt and Dave Brown with Palehound. “And every member of this band is queer or trans,” Kempner added. “Jason uplifts queer people rather than just paying lip service. So thank you, Jason.”

As writer Taylor Brown put it in The Bitter Southerner, Isbell “is evidence that six strings and voice are mightier weapons than any old stick, and sensitivity the better part of strength. Isbell is teaching us that it might be harder to feel than not, but it’s worth it. It’s what we need as artists, as humans, as a culture. Isbell is a new way of walking tall, and we should all stand up and listen.”

In St. Paul on Saturday night, everyone in attendance seemed to do exactly that.

Epilogue: Sunday night’s show

Likely anticipating a number of returning attendees (an informal show-of-hands poll by Palehound revealed many), Isbell and company curated a different show for Sunday night. Whereas Saturday featured a more electric sound and several jam-heavy moments, Sunday saw Isbell lean more on his Martin acoustic guitars.

The set included many songs from Weathervanes, naturally, but also dipped many times into Southeastern, including “Traveling Alone,” “Super 8” and “Flying Over Water,” and the show opened with the optimistic anthem, “Hope The High Road,” from 2017’s The Nashville Sound. Isbell and Vaden didn’t have as many face-to-face moments trading riffs, but they saved it up for a searing jam during “Miles” near the end of the set. The feelgood vibes from Saturday were still firmly in place, with Isbell at one point declaring he and and the band were having such a good time, he didn’t care what day it was, and said, “Let’s call it Saturday, the fourth of July.”

Gallery: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

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