The Hamilton Live recently played host to Virginia’s own Carbon Leaf. The band recently released a new album (their 17th), called Time Is The Playground, and they are touring to support it.
Supporting Carbon Leaf is their longtime friend, guitarist and singer/songwriter Zak Loy. Zak has just released his solo debut album, Dinero. If Zak’s name isn’t immediately recognizable, his day job may be. Zak has been playing guitar for alternative rock stalwarts Live since 2013.
Zak just seemed to appear on stage at The Hamilton Live on June 6. He introduced himself and talked about where he’s from and how it shaped his first solo album. He’s played in a number of bands before Live, including Damesviolet and Alpha Rev. His set was solo and acoustic, which meant reimagining the songs from his solo album. And no, he did not play any Live songs. He did, however, bring out Carbon Leaf bass player Jon Markel to accompany him on the upright bass near the end of his set.
After a short break, Carbon Leaf took the stage and began their high energy set. The evening started off with “Neon Signs” — an interesting approach as it is the final song on their latest release, Time Is The Playground. Perhaps it was the best song to describe the show. It’s about feeling nostalgic but continuing to move forward at the same time. After a 33 year career, the band has earned the luxury of nostalgia. But having just released a new album last September, they aren’t resting on their laurels.
The show moved fast. There wasn’t a whole lot of banter and the band barely took a breath between songs. But the band played flawlessly.
The crowd sang along with just about every song they played. But if you check out the setlist, it’s easy to see why. Carbon Leaf were having a blast up on stage, and they fed off the energy of the room.
A third of the way in, they played the song that really put them on the map, “Life Less Ordinary.” The few members of the audience who hadn’t been singing along with the band made up for it here.
As the evening started to wind down, the band repaid Zak Loy by calling him up on stage for a short acoustic segment where everyone gathered around one microphone. They didn’t know where he was so the call went out. Fortunately, Zak was sitting in the audience, enjoying the show! So he grabbed his guitar, jumped on stage, and joined Carbon Leaf for “campfire” versions of “Block of Wood” and “Comfort.”
The band has a heavy Irish influence and it was front and center in the last segment of the show (including a tin whistle). The final two songs were “The Boxer” and “The Donnybrook Affair,” and I could have just as easily been listening to them in a little pub as The Hamilton Live!
Carbon Leaf wrapped up the evening with a short encore: “California Gold” and “Let Your Troubles Roll By.” Carbon Leaf has been around since 1992, and it’s easy to see why they’ve earned such devoted fans. The show was top notch, the songs are well-crafted, and you leave the show in a better mood than you arrived. If you get the chance, go see them. You’ll be glad you did.
Setlist
- Neon Signs
- What About Everything?
- Time Is The Playground
- One Prairie Outpost
- X-Ray
- She’s Gone (…For Good This Time)
- Life Less Ordinary
- You And Me
- Paloma
- Desperation Song
- Catching Windmill
- Everything’s Alright Mama
- The War Was In Color
- On Any Given Day
- Two Aging Trucker
- Block Of Wood (acoustic w/Zak Loy)
- Comfort (acoustic w/Zak Loy)
- City By The Sea
- Backmask 1983
- The Boxer
- The Donnybrook Affair
Encore
- California Gold
- Let Your Troubles Roll By
Here are some photos of Carbon Leaf performing live at The Hamilton Live on June 6, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Marc Shea.
