Boston Concerts

1. Oh Wonder

It is normal to expect a live concert to sound different from the version you hear through headphones. Usually, I think of live music as a different kind of experience, not necessarily a better one. But Oh Wonder was the first concert where I genuinely felt that the live performance far surpassed the recordings. Josephine’s voice had a softness and clarity in person that Apple Music does not fully capture. 

On April 15, at Boch Center’s Shubert Theatre in Boston, Josephine and Anthony sat at the piano and began “Body Gold” and “Dazzle.” Blue light drifted through the stage smoke, blurring the edges of the room and making the theater feel suspended in a soft, dreamlike haze. For a few minutes, Boston felt less like a city I was trying to keep up with and more like a place I was beginning to experience for myself. 

Atwood Magazine describes Oh Wonder’s concerts as a “music-induced meditation,” and the Boston performance carried that same feeling. This British, London-based alt-indie-pop duo felt softly emotional rather than explosively theatrical. Classically trained former solo artist Josephine Vander West came across as spontaneous and warm on stage. She spoke directly to the audience in an encouraging way, laughed into the microphone, and repeatedly thanked the crowd. Watching her perform was a sheer joy. At one point, she even thanked Figaro sandwiches, which the band had apparently discovered while spending time in Boston. I hope it was not a marketing collaboration, because the moment felt too charmingly genuine to lose. 

A big part of that meditative feeling, I think, comes from the way their performances are backed by a string quartet consisting of two violins, one viola, and one cello, bringing a chamber-music quality into an alt-indie-pop concert. At the Boston concert specifically, Josephine’s grand piano and the string section were especially present during “All We Do,” “Livewire,” “Technicolour Beat,” and “Landslide.” Even though these were acoustic instruments, they blended naturally with Oh Wonder’s modern sound, giving the songs a light, breathing texture. 

Oh Wonder performs at Boch Center's Shubert Theatre on April 15, 2026

2. Band of Horses  

On April 10, 2026, I watched Band of Horses perform live for the first time at The Cabot in Beverly, Massachusetts, a North Shore venue near Boston, as part of their Everything All the Time 20th Anniversary Tour. The Everything All the Time 20th Anniversary Tour is Band of Horses’ 2026 celebratory tour of their debut album Everything All the Time, which was originally released in 2006 through Sub Pop. Sub Pop is an independent record label based in Seattle, Washington, famous for bringing grunge and alternative genres into wider culture through bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney. 

The setlist from that night shows that they revisited the full Everything All the Time material, including “The Funeral,” “Monsters,” “The Great Salt Lake,” “General Specific,” and “St. Augustine.” My favourite was “Is There a Ghost,” the second most popular song after “The Funeral,” and part of the album Cease to Begin. If you listen closely to the lyrics, you will realize it is not so much about paranormal creatures, but about the feeling of being haunted and filled with imagination. Ben Bridwell specifically said that it was inspired by a spooky noise made by an ice maker in his house. The lyrics are very minimal. Instead of telling a detailed story, the song repeats one cathartic sentence until the music grows into a rush of sound. 

To sound the way they do, Band of Horses do a few very specific things: reverb-heavy guitars, Ben Bridwell’s high echoing vocals, steady drums, warm bass, occasional keyboards, and lots of slow emotional build-up. Their core live setup usually consists of electric guitars, bass, drums, vocals, and sometimes keyboard, piano, or organ textures. 

The most important technique is probably space. They do not sound crowded or overly technical. Instead, the guitars often ring out with long sustain, echo, and reverb, so the notes feel like they are hanging in the air. That is why their songs can feel “wide, reverb-heavy, and woodsy,” almost like being outside or in a large empty room. 

Band of Horses performs at The Cabot on April 10, 2026

3. Ghost  

TD Garden is mostly known for its connection to sports, as it houses the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins, but it also hosts comedy shows, concerts, and touring events. Sitting above North Station, on July 21 this civic amphitheater was turned into a haunted cathedral slash some sort of gothic theater. The band responsible for this transformation was Ghost, a Swedish theatrical rock group blending heavy metal, religious symbols, and elaborate stagecraft. 

When I attended their concert, the only song I was aware of was “Mary on a Cross,” which went viral in summer 2022, especially around July-August 2022. It was released in 2019 as part of the two-song release Seven Inches of Satanic Panic. I was curious about their other songs, which is why I attended the show. Visually and emotionally speaking, Ghost is very different from Oh Wonder and Band of Horses, and their music is different from what I generally listen to. As described by the digital media platform Vanyaland, this rock-metal band is led by Tobias Forge, who does not perform as himself, but as a fictional character, typically as a parody of a Catholic pope. While waiting among the rest of the crowd, I also noticed that some fans like to match their energy by dressing in skeleton costumes, glitter, fake rosaries, veils, and various face paints. 

Some specific stage elements Ghost used were papal and clerical costumes, skull-like face paint or masks, fog, a curtain reveal, and church imagery. The band entered with “Klara stjärnor” and “Miserere Mei, Deus,” which I think sounded intentionally ceremonial. In the middle of the set, they performed “Cirice,” “Satanized,” “Umbra,” and “Year Zero,” deepening the ritual drama. They ended with “Mary on a Cross,” “Dance Macabre,” and finally “Square Hammer.” For some reason, the ending sounded brighter and catchier, making the dark and scary feel strangely joyful. 

Fans gather outside of TD Garden to see Ghost perform on July 21, 2026