Needtobreathe is one of my all time favorite bands and one of the few bands I have to everything they do and in that search I came across this beauty. It is the E.P. called La Diferencia. It was only available on the DRIVE ALL NIGHT TOUR 2013. If you went to a show on that tour and you placed a pre-order for their upcoming album ‘Rivers of the Wasteland, you received a pre-order card AND got the BRAND NEW EP called La Diferencia on CD. I actually missed that tour so I didn’t have this and I do now. The EP contains four previously unreleased live tracks and the title is quite misleading because it would make you think their were some Hispanic language songs on here but there are not…which is fine as I don’t speak Spanish anyway. The cover art I am sure was done by band member Bo Rinehart as he has been the artistic brain behind most of their visual side of the band.
The opening track, “Difference Maker” might be the best song the band has ever written. There is such a sadness and longing in the song and lyrically, it is splendid. For me, it raises question as to why are we here in this world and what is our place in that world. Is God the answer? I think that is for each of us to decide as I find faith and religion to be a personal choice. This song helped me take a longer look at myself and I believed has helped a lot. The song is not quite a demo. They call it a “work tape” so at this point it was a work in process but damn, it is so good.
As you know if you follow this site, I am a huge fan of Needtobreathe. I have all their albums on vinyl and now I am going after the cool and unusual stuff on CDs. The first thing I found was a promotional single for the song “The Heart” off their upcoming 2014 album ‘Rivers in the Wasteland’. There is a sticker on the front of the plastic wrapper that gives you all the promotional information that is upcoming for the band including the “Impact Date” or release date of the single on April 21, 2014. it mentions the producer who was Joe Chiccarelli who had worked with The Raconteurs, The Killers and U2. It even goes through the bands upcoming performances on TV and BBC Radio. Check it out below.
The Promo CD is out of the UK and I bought it from someone in the UK. The single was presented with a paper sleeve (black and white text only) and in a PVC wallet. Very simple presentation, no artwork or anything special like that. Plain and simple, but still really cool. The only song on it is “The Heart”, nothing else.
I am so glad to be back to live shows and one of the first shows back is Needtobreathe who are one of my favorite bands of all time. Yes, last week I saw Ace Frehley and Alice Cooper which were both spectacular, but this is Needtobreathe. And being my fourth or fifth time seeing them, they did not disappoint as usual. The played for over 2 hours and right up to curfew at the venue and were ready to finish even if they turned off the power because when Needtobreathe (NTB) come to play, they come to play. They are going to give you all of themselves until the a ready to drop and that is exactly what they did.
The band makes a grand entrance with portraits of themselves on the screen and as each member walks out Tyler Burkum on guitar, Randall Harris on drums, Josh Lovelace on keyboards, Seth Bolt on bass and Bear Rineheart on vocals the roar of the crowd grew louder and louder and then the band kicked in to “Alive” and the band was rocking the place down with so much and energy and power. And then when the went in to the song “Great Night”, you knew it was going to be just that.
For me, it was one classic song after another. You get the driving force of “Drive All Night” and then the rebellious “The Outsiders” which I did video the song for my wife as she was sidelined with a migraine and she wanted me to capture some of it for her so I did. At this point, Bear finally took a breathe between songs and then spoke to us for a brief moment before going in to the church revival feel of “Washed By The Water” which ended with parts of their song “Lay ‘Em Down”. It was like going to church.
At this point, the band showed a movie trailer. Yep, a movie trailer. On November 3rd, for one night only, movie theaters will show the documentary ‘Into the Mystery’ which is about the band and the making of their new album during covid. The band quarantined together in a house for three weeks and recorded the album. They said what would normally take them 3 years, they did in 3 weeks. And after the trailer, they played two great songs from their new album. The first was “Sunshine” and the second was “Into the Mystery” which actually included an opening of “Free Fallin'” by Tom Petty first.
They played a few more songs before they took another break and showed a different video. This one was about the charity they work with called For Others which works with a lot of charities in your own city (Charlotte in this case for me) and NTB asked for anyone that could to please donate. So while they played “Multiplied” and “Difference Maker” you could text the number below that they shown on the screen. They were told that it would never work and people wouldn’t do it, but the band had raised over $500,000 on the tour from the fans for the charities and as I said the money stays in the community in the town they played. Something you wouldn’t expect at a show, but cool nonetheless.
After that, the band did some acoustical numbers with the song “Banks” which happened to have a couple in the front row get engaged during the show. Their names were Ashley and Jeremy as the band saw it happened and commented on it. Bear said that after getting engagements, there can be an awkardness but not for those two as they started making out immediately after. The next song “Carry Me” had a special guest. Jon Foreman from Switchfoot came out and sang with Bear and the Band. It was cool how a NTB Tour was like a family event and this wouldn’t be the last time someone came out and sang with them.
The show then kicked back in to gear with the heavier, more upbeat tracks such as “Hang On”, “Hard Love” and “Ridiing High” which got the energy going again and everyone having a good time. If that wasn’t enough on the next song, “Honky Tonk Women” the mic was turned over to the drummer, Randall Harris, who got the crowd in to a wild frenzy as everyone loved the Stone Cover. It was wild time where each band member got up and did a little something to be highlighted. Lots of fun.
After that wild time, the band played one of my all time favorite tracks, “Who Am I” and followed it up with “I Am Yours” which I found rather funny as the titles work well together. Then we get to the final song before the encores and this time the whole family was there. Switchfoot and The New Respects all came out for a wild jam session on the song “When the Levee Breaks”. It was a hell of a good time with so much to look at and let me just show you…
Switchfoot’s Jon ForemanThe New RespectsEveryone
Then we get to the Encore as the crowd were banging the backs of the plastic chairs to make as much noise as they could. The band came out and played “Midnight Special” mixed with “Mercy’s Shore”. They then played a song for the first time on this current tour. Well, we are in North “Carolina” so they player their song “Oh Caroline” and the crowd went nuts. It is a fun song to be played live as it really gets the crowd singing along. As we are now coming up on 11pm and the event curfew, the band was worried they wouldn’t finish and said they will keep singing and playing even if they turn off the sound. They played one of their biggest songs, “Brother” with full crowd participation. What a feeling that must be to have the crowd sing back your song. Luckily the sound was never turned off and the band finished the song with a quick goodnight and over 2 hours of playing and 23 songs. It was another magical night with Needtobreathe.
Here is the setlist…
Alive
Great Night
Drive All Night
Outsiders
Washed by the Water / Lay ‘Em Down
Sunshines
Into the Mystery (Free Fallin’ opening)
Forever On Your Side
Keep Your Eyes Open / Testify
Something Beautiful
Multiplied / Difference Maker
Banks
Carry Me (w/ Jon Foreman)
Hang On
Hard Love
Riding High
Honky Tonk Woman (The Rolling Stones Cover w/ the drummer singing)
Who Am I
I Am Yours
When the Levee Breaks (Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe McCoy Cover with Switchfoot and The New Respects)
Midnight Special / Mercy’s Shore – Encore
Oh, Caroline (first time played on tour) – Encore
Brother – Encore
And did I get some Merch? Yep, I finally bought my first NTB Concert Shirt. I don’t know why I hadn’t before…probably too cheap.
And I took a bunch of pictures so here are a few more to take you out. Thanks for hanging around…
Okay, I’ll leave at that…thanks again for stopping by.
In my quest for getting everything on vinyl for Needtobreathe, there were four 7″ Singles I had to get and I am glad to say, I now have 3 of them. There is still one elusive one that I need for the song “Keep Your Eyes Open”, so if you see it let me know. For now we are going to talk about this single for the song “Brother”. The song is actually off the album, ‘Rivers in the Wasteland’ from 2014. However, the songs on this disc are not on the version on the album.
The disc is a limited edition release with only 2,000 copies and I have one so there are only 1,999 left out there for you to find (yes, I know how to subtract). It is on a very beautiful transparent blue vinyl and it is gorgeous. It comes in a lovely jacket with a cool picture of Bear Rineheart on the front and his brother Bo Rinehart on the back which is significant which we will discuss later.
The package also comes with an insert with details about Side A and Side B and it is formatted in that same flowery motif. It is quite nice.
The next 7″ Vinyl Single I have from Needtobreathe is an Insiders Exclusive Single. It was only offered out to paid fans who are signed up for their Insiders Club (Yes, I am now a member, but wasn’t back then). As you can see from header picture, the packaging was limited to a die-cut paper sleeve, inserted in a clear vinyl sleeve which has a barcode sticker attached to the outside of the vinyl sleeve. Pretty plain but cool in its simplicity.
From what I gather, the vinyl was supposed to give us the unreleased track “Happy If You Could” which you can get the demo of the song on a digital E.P. called Cercas Blacas E.P. from 2013. I can’t find a ton of information on it, but it looks like it was recorded for the “Rivers in the Wasteland” album but not used. And here is the interesting part of all this. The song “Happy If You Could” isn’t even on this release. I am sure it was a mistake, but the song on Side A is actually the band’s cover of “Go Tell It To The Mountain”. Did someone not bother listening to the test pressing???
Back on November 25, 2016, Needtobreathe released a two song 7″ Single to celebrate the band’s chance to record for Paste Magazine at their Paste Studio. And this is the only way you can own these songs is on the vinyl option. Otherwise you have to stream them. The band recorded the songs the previous Summer in Midtown Manhattan and the band set up to record the songs acoustically which we already know the band does so well. The band was promoting their current album at the time, “Hard Love” which is one of their best albums.
I was finally able to get my hands on a copy and not pay too much. The band has only released 4 vinyl 7″ singles and now I have 3 of them and this is the first one I was able to get. The packaging is stunning and even comes with a double sided insert with one side being the track listing and all the credits and the other side artwork that continues the theme of the packaging for the single and the album. The single itself comes in a solid black sleeve to match the color the vinyl as well.
As you know if you visit my site, one of my favorite bands is Needtobreathe. I have everything they have put out on vinyl and now I am going after everything they have released on CD (that they don’t have on vinyl). And the CDs I want the most are the exclusive fan club CDs they release each year.
I had never joined prior to the 2020 year so getting my hands on these has not been easy as it is not cheap. I am looking for the right price and most of the time it is too high. I finally grabbed my first one at a price less than the membership fee which was Insiders LP Vol. 2 for $40 and 9 months later I got one even cheaper which was Insiders, Vol. 5 and it was only $25. And then a couple days later got another for $27 which was Insiders Vol. 3. Sorry we aren’t going in order, but we are going in order of when I receive them. And I just joined the 2021 Insiders Club and this time I am getting a T-Shirt and you guessed it, A Mask!! The CD for Insiders Vol. 8 will be out by January 2022. For now, we are discussing Insiders, Vol. VII from 2020 which this time it did cost me the cost of the club because I got tired of tyring to find all these. I still need volumes 1, 4 and 6 if you have them and want to sell.
Who is Needtobreathe you may ask and I will tell you. Needtobreathe is a rock band from South Carolina who mixes rock, folk, southern rock, country and whatever else they like all with a great message or story to tell. Currently the band is…
As you know if you visit my site, one of my favorite bands is Needtobreathe. I have everything they have put out on vinyl and now I am going after everything they have released on CD (that they don’t have on vinyl). And the CDs I want the most are the exclusive fan club CDs they release each year.
If you join the Needtobreathe Insiders fan club (for $70 a year), you get a Live CD of tracks collected from the band’s live performances throughout their career (among other things such as a Needtobreathe Mug, a key chain and a free live track download ever month – that is 12 more songs or maybe the same tracks that will be on the CD, not sure yet on that). Needtobreathe actually records every show they put on so they have a ton of tunes to choose from. They have released 6 volumes and number 7 will be coming in December which I will get as I have now joined the club. I had never joined prior so getting my hands on these has not been easy as it is not cheap. I am looking for the right price and most of the time it is too high. I finally grabbed my first one at a price less than the membership fee which was Insiders LP Vol. 2 for $40 and 9 months later I got one even cheaper which was Vol. 5 and it was only $25. And then a couple days later got another for $27 which is this one Vol. 3. Sorry we aren’t going in order, but we are going in order of when I receive them.
As you know if you visit my site, one of my favorite bands is Needtobreathe. I have everything they have put out on vinyl and now I am going after everything they have released on CD (that they don’t have on vinyl). And the CDs I want the most are the exclusive fan club CDs they release each year.
If you join the Needtobreathe Insiders fan club (for $70 a year), you get a Live CD of tracks collected from the band’s live performances. (among other things such as a Needtobreathe Mug, a key chain and a free live track download ever month – that is 12 more songs or maybe the same tracks that will be on the CD, not sure yet on that). Needtobreathe actually records every show they put on so they have a ton of tunes to choose from. They have released 6 volumes and number 7 will be coming in December which I will get as I have now joined the club. I had never joined prior so getting my hands on these has not been easy as it is not cheap. I am looking for the right price and most of the time it is too high. I finally grabbed my first one at a price less than the membership fee which was Insiders LP Vol. 2 and now I got one even cheaper which is this release Vol. 5. Sorry we aren’t going in order, but we are going in order of when I receive them.
A couple months back, Needtobreathe sent out emails to their fans and told us some news about a new album, ‘Out of Body’. However, at the same time they discussed the heartbreaking news that Bo Rinehart, lead guitar and founding member, was leaving the band. This caused great pause to me as Bo is the creative mind behind the band. He did a lot of the art, the video concepts, he was a songwriter as well and a hell of a musician. He was one of the many reasons, I love this band. I now had worries about the new album and how the band was going to sound.
This only left 3 members of the band…
Bear Rinehart, lead singer, guitar
Josh Lovelace – hammond organ and piano
Seth Bolt – bass and drums (not at the same time)
I still ordered the album the day it went available for pre-order and I even ordered the Vinyl and CD bundle because why not. Artistically, the cover of the album was amazing, the color of the vinyl was stunning and everything about the concept was beautiful and some of the best the band has done. And you can see below, everything looks great…
2 Loud 2 Old Music 