By sabrina bollinger | january 17, 2024
Spirits in my head and they won’t go except I let the spirits in my head melt away at A&R Music Bar as The Strumbella’s brought their new album “Part-Time Believer” to Columbus, Ohio. The group brought along Wildermiss, a well-loved indie rock band who perfectly matched the energy of the night allowing the crowd to get worked up before The Strumbellas hit the stage.
The Strumbellas are an alternative country folk band based out of Toronto, Ontario. The group formed in 2008 and has since released five studio albums. Most known for the song “Spirits” from their third album “Hope”. Which the band played as their closing song tonight along with nine-teen other tracks from their various albums. During this, I remembered that Columbus was the second stop on their tour this year. The band seemed to appreciate this as they shared a feeling I shared as well. One member, Dave Ritter, mentioned that the early dates on a tour are the best because he doesn’t hate the band yet and hasn’t grown tired of the long drives. Yet.
I saw several kids in the crowd tonight up way past their bedtime with their parents singing along to songs written before they were born. It’s a surreal experience seeing a band that was around in your early teens be so inspiring to a younger audience and it seemed to inspire the band as well. They continuously tested the crowd through the night with the infamous “OH-IO” chant- which we passed with flying colors (of course). As the capital of Ohio, we have a reputation to uphold here in Columbus and they had fun making sure we did.
The night was filled with inspiring songs about change and what life can bring you and for a moment all the outside world melted away to the sound of violin mixed into upbeat drums and headbangable guitar riffs. Be sure to catch them on one of their other six stops on this tour for an unforgettable night filled with laughter and joy for the fact we are alive.
Sabrina Bollinger is a freelance photojournalist for Majestic Music Magazine. See more of her work here.
