Lord Huron plays moody set on Bluesfest's main stage, drawing smaller-than-usual crowd

Lord Huron, the Los Angeles indie rockers and least-known of Bluesfest's nine headliners, took the RBC Main Stage on Friday, July 16, with a deliberately moody set that tested patience but rewarded the devoted fans who stayed.

The band opened by asking how many in the audience were seeing them for the first time, then said: "Welcome. We're tickled pink to be back in this part of the world, back at Bluesfest. It means the world to be so far from home and see so many damn people here."

A steady stream of attendees left throughout the set, likely turned off by the slow-paced, minor-key moodiness. The crowd was noticeably smaller than expected for a main-stage headliner, though Saturday's attendance was balanced by capacity crowds at Social Distortion and Australia's Dope Lemon on other stages.

Lord Huron is touring behind 2025's Cosmic Selector Vol. 1, their fifth album, but their real recent spike in fame came from the rediscovery of "The Night We Met," a 2015 track featured on Netflix's 13 Reasons Why. The song became a streaming juggernaut.

The set was meticulously constructed, opening with "Who Laughs Last," an oddball track from the new album featuring spoken-word poetry by actor Kirsten Stewart. Dark, poignant selections followed: "Bag of Bones," "Ends of the Earth," "The Ghost on The Shore," and "Wait By The River" — each one a haunting rock landscape anchored by keyboardist Misty Boyce's stunning backing vocals.

As the band shifted into a slightly more upbeat second half, the remaining crowd warmed. Singer Ben Schneider, performing with a pay-phone receiver in hand, drew cheers. "The Night We Met" prompted a flurry of cellphone recordings, a moment of collective recognition after a long emotional buildup. The two-song encore — "World Ender" and "Not Dead Yet" — closed with a hopeful note.