Noah Kahan is an esteemed folk-pop and indie-folk artist who became well known in 2022 when his album Stick Season was released, containing many of his standout songs, including “Stick Season”, “Northern Attitude”, “All My Love”, and “Orange Juice”. Live From Fenway Park came out on August 30th, 2024, and includes the live recordings of over two sold-out nights while Kahan was performing at Boston’s iconic Fenway Park. This new(ish) album includes many of his biggest hits from different albums, as well as “Pain Is Cold Water”, a song that had not been previously released.
While I have been a Noah Kahan fan since the beginning, I have never listened to Live From Fenway Park, despite its old age, instead opting for the studio versions. I decided to listen to the whole album, all songs I had heard before, just not live.
When you turn on the live album, two things are immediately noticed. First, the crowd. In all of the songs, you can hear thousands of people screaming the lyrics with Kahan, resulting in an extremely satisfying echo effect. Parts that stood out to me as perfect were when Kahan let the crowd finish the well-known lyrics, such as in “Maine”, “Dial Drunk”, and “Growing Sideways”.
Second, you get to know Noah Kahan through his talking, and you understand his humility. He thanks the crowd after almost every song, even saying, “I don’t deserve this…” His excitement to be playing at Fenway Park is palpable, and his graciousness is evident through his songs. He thanks his parents for the opportunities they have given him, and at the end of “Homesick,” he says how he can’t believe that he’s really there. Through this new window, we get into his live performances, we get to see a different side of him: the side where he’s a human just like us who sings and laughs and curses.
As for the songs themselves, Kahan really impressed me. Starting off strong with “Dial Drunk”, the live version seems more upbeat and lively than the studio recording. The crowd participation towards the end is perfect, and there seemed to be more instrumental parts than in the studio recording. While this is not a bad thing, if you are just sitting there and listening to it, it can get a little old.
In “Everywhere Everything”, Gracie Abrahm sang her part beautifully. I personally liked her in the live version better than in the studio recording. Kahan’s and her voices blended and balanced each other out perfectly. Kahan thanked Abrahm profusely and complimented her heavily when the song was over, leaving a positive feeling.
Many of the songs had a sense of rawness that you can’t really get in a scheduled recording. I noticed this emotion in many of the songs, especially in “Homesick” and “You’re Gonna Go Far”.
However, with these live versions, you get a few discrepancies from the originals that you don’t hear in the recordings. These don’t get in the way of the songs being pleasant, but they can make them harder to sing along to when the length of certain words or tone of notes is changing.
Unfortunately, I found “Orange Juice” and “Maine” to be slightly disappointing. “Orange Juice” is one of my personal favorites of his songs, which could have led to my underwhelmed reaction. I think it is a beautiful song, but I thought this version was a little too different, and it tried for a more somber feeling. “Maine” has one of the more iconic and original beginnings of his songs, and I think it lacked that fun energy. I also thought that “Mess” was too steady. There was little inflection in tone, causing it to seem like the same thirty seconds over and over.
As for the best songs, it’s hard to choose. Most of the songs I either enjoyed the same or more than the studio recordings. “All My Love” definitely stood out as especially remarkable, as did “The View Between Villages” with its beautiful high notes and harmonies that swept the crowd away. “Paul Revere”, “Maine”, and “Forever” are perfect for more serene and haunting listens, and “She Calls Me Back” and “Dial Drunk” are serving a more folk party vibe while “Growing Sideways”, “You’re Gonna Go Far”, and “Homesick” are perfect for Noah Kahan lovers who want to scream all the lyrics.
As for my personal favorite, I think I have to say “Your Needs, My Needs”. It was extremely powerful and connected with me instantly. The energy was all there, and it was, in a word, thundering. I was also pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed “Dial Drunk”, considering that I would not put the studio recording on my top list of Kahan’s songs. “New Perspective” also earned itself a shoutout for its mix of beautiful singing and instruments, along with the rowdy shouting of the lyrics.
“Pain Is Cold Water”, while not too unfamiliar from his other works, still seems to have a different feel from the rest of the songs. It is reflective, pensive, and deep, the lyrics beautiful and catchy, while the music itself is a little more subdued. A standout line from this song is, “And, if love was contagious, I might be immune to it, pain’s like cold water, your brain just gets used to it”.
Overall, this album gets great scores. It has deep emotion tied to it and expresses feelings with a raw touch that is deeply appreciated by the crowd, who sing along with Kahan. I would recommend this album to anyone, whether they have listened to Noah Kahan before or not.
