Allison Russell and The Rainbow Coalition Illuminate Boston

On a breezy, rainy spring evening in Boston, Allison Russell and her Rainbow Coalition transformed the Royale into a sanctuary of sound, story, and spirit. The crowd—diverse in age, background, and musical taste—came for the music but left uplifted by something far deeper: a collective catharsis wrapped in grace, groove, and radical joy.

Opening Act: Kara Jackson

Opening the evening was Chicago poet-singer Kara Jackson, whose delicate fingerpicking and deeply poetic lyrics hushed the room into rapt attention. Songs from her album Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? felt both weighty and welcoming, offering raw meditations on grief, identity, and love. Her performance was a perfect prelude to the emotional resonance to come.

Allison Russell’s Spellbinding Set

Taking the stage to thunderous applause, Allison Russell radiated both elegance and power. Dressed in flowing colors that echoed the spirit of her band’s name—the Rainbow Coalition—she opened with “Hy-Brasil,” an otherworldly invocation that cast a dreamy haze over the room. But it wasn’t long before that haze transformed into a bright, blazing fire with “Eve Was Black” and “Snakelike,” where Russell’s voice, smoky and commanding, danced over rich rhythmic arrangements.

Russell is more than a vocalist—she's a multi-instrumentalist whose musical dexterity adds a vivid layer of storytelling. Throughout the set, she shifted effortlessly between clarinet, banjo, and guitar, each instrument revealing another facet of her artistic soul. During “Persephone,” she picked up her banjo with a light touch and fierce focus, grounding the mythological song in earthy rhythms. “Nightflyer” soared with the clarinet’s warm cry weaving through the ensemble’s layered sound. And in “Shadowlands,” Russell’s guitar shimmered, her strumming both defiant and tender.

The band—composed of world-class women musicians—matched Russell's energy with tight harmonies and spontaneous joy. On “Joyful Mother**kers,” they danced and shouted with giddy abandon, drawing a raucous response from the crowd, who clapped and whooped in time. On “You’re Not Alone,” the audience became a choir, voices rising as one in affirmation and unity.

A highlight of the evening was her deeply felt cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution.” In a city that proudly claims Chapman as one of its own, the performance hit especially hard. Russell introduced the song as a love letter to “truth-tellers and changemakers” and delivered it with hushed reverence and rising fire, bringing the audience to its feet.

A Joyous Return

Closing the night with “Rag Child,” Russell thanked the audience, saying, “You’ve made this room feel like a homecoming,” and the feeling was mutual. The crowd roared in appreciation, many visibly moved, others swaying in shared stillness.

This wasn’t just a concert—it was an invitation to feel, to reckon, and to rejoice. Allison Russell’s performance was nothing short of luminous, and the Royale became, for one night, a cathedral of liberation and light.