LIVE REVIEW: Greg Freeman @ The High Noon Saloon
WORDS BY ALLIE HOFFERT, PHOTOS BY SOLEIL RUMPIT
Greg Freeman by Soleil Rumpit
It’s been a busy year for Greg Freeman. Hot off the heels of a winter tour supporting his 2025 album Burnover, he spent the first few months of 2026 writing and recording material for All Set the Bone, his third album released this month to near-universal acclaim. Amid a fast-paced press circuit and glowing profiles in Paste and the New York Times, Freeman’s back in full touring mode, making his way across the US and Europe with a full backing band. On Oct. 25, the High Noon Saloon welcomed Freeman and his band for their second performance in Wisconsin and their first here in Madison.
The crowd was lively for a Sunday night, the High Noon’s standing room packed to the walls with alt-country aficionados, millennials in Built to Spill shirts and college-radio DJs. The crowd didn’t seem much like the type to sing along (not that Freeman’s vocals would be easy to match), but the excitement in the air for crowd-pleasers like “Indu” and “Come and Change My Body” was electric.
Freeman himself was laid-back and conversational onstage, chatting with the crowd in between songs, musing on the full moon and Madison’s diner scene. “What’s it like, living on an isthmus?” he asked his audience during a tuning break. “Is it weird?”
Most of the tuning breaks, for that matter, were punctuated by a jaunty piano solo from keyboardist Sam Atallah, whose array of performances on keys, piano, trumpet and backing vocals were consistently excellent. “Curtain” was the only Burnover track to make it onto the setlist, but Atallah’s gorgeous solo halfway through the song made it one of the most memorable of the night.
Greg Freeman by Soleil Rumpit
During a lull, one audience member shouted out to ask Freeman his favorite color. “Does navy green count?” he replied, the High Noon’s stage lighting shifting green and blue, before launching into a pitch-perfect performance of “Decade.”
All Set the Bone is an album rife with breakneck changes in tempo, dynamics and tone. A great band can pull off those transitions without a hitch. An excellent band can do all that and more, adding accompaniment, solos and extended performances without missing a beat. Freeman’s band easily falls into the latter category, with certain technically challenging songs (“Marooned” and “Hail Mary” especially) elevated to astonishing levels.
There’s really no shortage of praise to give to Freeman’s backing band, but special acclaim is necessary for their performance on heavier arrangements like “Totaled” and “Culture,” where roaring accompaniment crashed into Freeman’s vocals like ten-foot waves against a cliff. The effect on the audience was enrapturing, the performances so cohesive and staggering it was easy to forget you were watching a Sunday night show and not a tsunami.
Greg Freeman himself delivered a masterful performance throughout the night. His repertoire has always been challenging (see “Colorado,” a deep cut from I Looked Out and his second-to-last song of the night), but his performance on Sunday seemed effortless, with fast-paced singles “Loser’s Prize” and “Cahokia” standing out as particular highlights.
The show concluded with album closer “Bury Me the Shovel,” as Freeman slowed the tempo, cut the distortion and brought out a violinist. The rhythm guitarist’s silvery soprano was a perfect complement for Freeman’s lead vocals, and the violin offered just enough melancholy to bring the night to a nostalgic close.
Greg Freeman’s got a lot ahead of him. His tour stretches through February and across Europe, he’s become an indie mainstay and there’s no shortage of starry-eyed music journalists eager to wax poetic about his work. If All Set the Bone is any indicator, he has the creative ability of a once-in-a-generation songwriter. If Sunday’s performance is any indicator, he has the talent and drive to keep it going.
