The Jayhawks - Live At The Colonial Theater, Phoenixville, PA, September 27, 2025


Until last night I've never been to the Colonial Theater in the very hip town of Phoenixville, PA. It's a historic movie house that dates back to 1902. Today, it still shows films - it's home to the locally famous Blobfest - and it's also an occasional concert venue where I saw The Jayhawks for the third time.

Unlike a lot of older sites, the Colonial has comfortable seats and clean, modern restrooms, so if you visit there you're off to a good start. The concert hall walls are peeling and could use some paint, but that's a minor quibble completely offset by those two more important positives. You also have a good view from everywhere. We were in the second row of the balcony, close enough to take a good photo like the one above, but not close enough to destroy your hearing.

The current Jayhawks are lead singer, electric and acoustic guitarist and co-founder, Gary Louris and original member Marc Perlman on bass. They're joined by keyboard player Karen Grotberg who is on her second long-term stint with the band - her current one began in 2008 - and Tim O'Reagan, who has been their permanent drummer since 1995. Sideman John Jackson assisted the band as a lead electric player along with Louris. He also played acoustic and pedal steel.

The Jayhawks were tight and in the groove all evening. They've played many of these songs at least dozens of times, so that shouldn't be surprising. Their arrangements are short. There's not a lot of jamming - but Louris did stretch out a bit on "Waiting for the Sun" - so tedium never sets in. At times, the vocals were buried a little too deep into the mix, but that was the only flaw in the performance.

The quintet featured works from all stages of The Jayhawks' career including the two classic albums they made with co-founder and former member Mark Olson - Hollywood Town Hall and Tomorrow the Green Grass - in addition to their later Louris led records. A highlight was the last song of the encore, "Until You Came Along," one of the outstanding tracks Louris recorded with his other musical outfit, the on-again, off-again super-group, Golden Smog. The only song I wanted to hear that they didn't play was "I'm Going to Make You Love Me" from Smile.

Overall, it was a very nice evening.

The Jayhawks Setlist Colonial Theatre, Phoenixville, PA, USA 2025

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