The Avett Brothers put Linger back in their set on Thursday at Westville Music Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut, and it opened the encore rather than turning up mid-show. Jambase counts 480 shows since the last time the band played the Cranberries song, which works out to more than eight years off the shelf.
The arrangement leaned on the strings. Seth Avett sang lead, Joe Kwon played cello and Tania Elizabeth played fiddle, the two of them carrying the part the original gives to a keyboard line. Scott Avett added harmony vocals and banjo on top of that.
The song entered the band's book for a reason. They first played Linger during a January 2018 run in Louisville, days after Dolores O'Riordan of The Cranberries died, and played it once more the following month at Avett Brothers At The Beach before putting it away. Rehearsal footage from backstage turned up on YouTube shortly after that 2018 debut.
Linger was not the only thing pulled out of storage on the night. Spell Of Ambition returned for the first time in 72 shows, having last been played on 11 July 2025, and the main set ran through Shame, Kick Drum Heart, Ain't No Man, Murder in the City, Laundry Room and I and Love and You before the encore. Guster opened the concert.
Reviving a cover this specific is different from adding a crowd-pleaser. Linger is a song the band tied to a death when they first played it, so bringing it back eight years later reads as a deliberate return rather than a filler slot, and the audience-shot video Jambase embeds is the only recording of it so far.
The Cranberries have had a run of activity of their own lately: we covered the unreleased 1994 concert getting an official release and Sombr bringing the band out for Zombie at Electric Picnic. This kind of rock setlist news sits alongside the dates we track in the tour guide.
The facts
- The Avett Brothers played Linger at Westville Music Bowl in New Haven.
- Jambase counts 480 shows since the band last played it.
- The cover opened the encore rather than appearing mid-set.
- Seth Avett sang lead, with Joe Kwon on cello and Tania Elizabeth on fiddle.
- Scott Avett added harmony vocals and banjo.
- They first played it in January 2018, days after Dolores O'Riordan died.
- Spell Of Ambition also returned, first time in 72 shows.
- Guster opened the New Haven concert.
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