David Shaw is an act of nature, a singular manifestation of music and mercy. While The Revivalists’ frontman is the amazing centerpiece, his bandmates are all fine musicians who can jam-out at a full speed. At one point, during this show at Portsmouth, VA ‘s Union Bank & Trust Pavilion, Shaw walked over and hugged a bandmate, showing some love in the midst of performance. He’s good at that, often venturing into the crowd at shows, with handshakes and hugs and offering blessings of peace. After their performance, he returned, pulling back his super-long curly braids, to wish the crowd farewell and peace.

I’d seen The Revivalists at Lockn’ last year, and this performance struck me as even better. They’ve had some stunning recent songs, led, for me by “Wish I Knew You.” They performed a rollicking rendition as an encore, although it’s done more pensively in their lovely video, with performers mixed in race, age, and gender in a way that’s moving and memorable.

The band also encored with a crowd favorite, “Stand Up,” a song filled with energy and jam. And, at times David performed both solo and small-scale.  Yet, these, too, almost brought the listener, metaphorically-speaking, to his or her knees, fitting reaction perhaps to a “revival.”

With all of this, there was a tendency to lose track of what had been a great performance as well by Trampled by Turtles. Dave Simonett sang deeply-felt and lovely renditions of well written narratives, love songs, and other songs from the Americana repertoire. Their instrumental subsets are jam-centric with intense and finely-played, totally fast-executed rhythmic combinations to match the best. They’ve been at it for a while and know what they’re doing, whether on their harmony-rich singing songs or instrumental tunes. “Codeine” is a frightening song, but a beauty.  And, “Life on the Open Road,” makes you want to life that life. Tunes like “Whitman” make rich allusions to their titles.

Andrew, my partner for the evening, said I should include our shuttle ride at the end in my story. I decided, perhaps, he’s right. Olde Towne Courtesy Shuttle, a City of Portsmouth service at the auditorium, which had picked us up on the way in, now too us back all the way to the top of the parking garage, with Andrew holding tight to my rollater in the back, while the driver managed to duck low-hanging beams along the way.

Andrew, a performing musician himself, said “hey, this is even more fun than the concert!” He was joking. However, it’s given me closure for this review, as I think that the entire show, especially the thrilling Revivalists encores, was truly exciting for an auditorium full of fans, with twists and turns, and a trip headed upwards, with David Shaw, at the top, giving a final wish for peace and shared love, a fitting close to an exciting ride.