In the second act of today’s Free at Noon doubleheader, XPN welcomed Pete Yorn to the stage to play to a sold-out crowd that eagerly anticipated the Jersey-born singer-songwriter
Yorn’s vibe is a blend of hard-rocking bluntness mixed with delicate sensitivity, and he opened his set with “Crystal Village,” the third track from his 2003 album, Day I Forgot. His gentle strumming and hushed tones spoke of the beauty and passion found in the early stages of a relationship, as couples in the audience drew closer, enchanted by lines like “Take my hand, come with me / I see the lights so brightly / And we fall as if we never really mattered.”
Following “Calm Down” from his 2019 album Caretakers, Yorn talked about taken a four-year hiatus in the early 2020s. The pandemic hit, and as he put it, “chaos ensued” and he “went into a cave” performing only sporadically and not touring his 2022 release Hawaii.
Yorn has an even newer single in his catalog, “Someday, Somebody,” and he thanked WXPN for airing it and supporting his work. The song echoes the classic rock sounds of Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen, and features Yorn’s crisp vocals and guitar, a comforting warm hug to the ears, and his whole aesthetic was inviting like that cool uncle that always has a story to tell.
As the Free at Noon wrapped up and attendees went along with their day, Yorn concluded his set with fan favorite “Life On A Chain,” expressing gratitude to those who stayed till the end. He encouraged the crowd to join in, and they eagerly sang along to “I live on chain / you share the same last name / As a joke / I sent a bottle of whiskey” from his 2001 gold-status album musicforthemorningafter.