Recap and Gallery: Local H Live at Harvest Moon Drive-In

Brassneck | June 28, 2020

“Is this weird for you guys? It’s weird for us, too.”

This was Scott Lucas of Local H at the Harvest Moon Drive-In in Gibson City, Illinois, just a few songs into an epic 30-song set Thursday in east central Illinois. IE attended the first of two sold out shows that Local H played on Thursday and Friday night at the Harvest Moon Drive-In, located about 2 hours south of Chicago in Ford County. What made this particular concert weird, of course, were the safety measures in place due to COVID-19. This was the first Illinois concert (in front of a live audience) given by a major band since the outbreak of the pandemic, and things were indeed different than they would normally be. Instead of a theater full of fans, Scott Lucas and Ryan Harding played to a field of parked cars with audience members sitting in lawn chairs as well as their vehicles. The band seemed dedicated to making the concert experience not only as exciting as possible but also as safe as possible. In fact, at one point, Lucas asked security to push back fans who had congregated too close to the stage. Unfortunately, some employees of the the venue and audience did not show the same attentiveness to safety, and were mask free. We’ll call it a COVID learning curve.

As for the concert itself, Local H – as expected, crushed it. The duo performed in front of one of the giant screens as movie clips played above them, all while the band’s performance projected onto the other screen across the field. The Setlist of 30 songs included classics, like “Eddie Vedder” and “High-Fiving MF,” as well as a surprising acoustic set. They also played tracks from their new album, Lifers, which dropped in April. It is evident that Lucas and Harding were thrilled to be playing and performing live again, and the audience loved every minute of the nearly three-hour show. Based on the success of this concert, and as long as the neighbors don’t complain, you’ll see a volley of pop-up drive in concerts around Chicagoland this summer. Hopefully we’ll get one more viewing of Local H before the leaves turn, masks in tow.

Recap by Isabella Spinelli; Photos by Edward Spinelli

Setlist