Live: Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness @ The Roxian Theatre

In the midst of the holiday season, sometimes what a music lover needs is an intimate acoustic performance, like the musical version of good company by the fire, and that’s just what Andrew McMahon’s Winter in the Wilderness Tour provides.

Singer Ivory Layne got the evening started with an acoustic performance showcasing her vocals, from the lovely light and breathy to strong powerhouse notes that filled the venue. Highlights included “Committed” and the sweet ballad “Boy Loves Me,” but the best moment of Layne’s set was her humorous and timely reworking of a Christmas classic — instead of walkin’ in a winter wonderland, Layne took the audience on a trip stalkin’ through her ex’s Instagram.

With just a piano, McMahon delighted fans for a nearly two-hour, 20-plus-song set, perfectly balancing his extensive discography with old material from Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin to his latest album, Upside Down Flowers, released last year. The atmosphere was similar to that of last year’s Andrew McMahon and Friends tour — although this time, McMahon was on his own — with stripped-down takes of the music, giving them a different feel. Longtime fans from McMahon’s Something Corporate days were treated to “I Want to Save You,” “I Woke Up in a Car,” and “Cavanaugh Park.” As for newer music, McMahon included “So Close,” “Ohio,” “High Dive,” and “Cecilia and the Satellite,” and Layne returned for “Dead Man’s Dollar,” “Paper Rain,” and a sweet cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time.”

Despite the holiday theme of the show, McMahon doesn’t have much in the way of holiday music — he joked that Jack’s Mannequin track “Holiday from Real” counted, as it includes the word holiday. But he does have one, “The Lights and Buzz,” another Jack’s Mannequin song. Other Jack’s Mannequin cuts in the set included “The Mixed Tape” and easy singalong closer “La La Lie.”

McMahon also provided commentary and insight to some of the tracks, from anecdotes about friends in “Cavanaugh Park” to his cancer diagnosis during his Jack’s Mannequin days to stories about his wife and daughter.

For his encore, McMahon indulged Something Corporate fans once again with “Straw Dog.” But some fans wanted a little more — like the sprawling, nearly 10-minute-long “Konstantine,” which McMahon revealed he no longer plays. However, he joked, he’d indulge a few bars, and if fans were to take video, they could share it on Instagram, pretend he’d played the whole thing, and no one would be the wiser. The audience loved the brief minute-and-a-half they did get, complete with an improvised, joking line about six new verses bringing the total runtime to 35 minutes.

Layne joined McMahon once again for Zombies on Broadway highlight “Walking in My Sleep,” before McMahon ended officially with “Fire Escape.” The audience complied with his request to stand, and the theater was filled with the voices of a chorus of delighted, faithful fans.

Part of the joy of McMahon’s shows is watching him perform — his piano is flanked by two microphones with McMahon alternating between them, moving nearly constantly as though he can’t bear to stay still, even without the full musical arrangements. By the end of the evening, he was on his feet, as fans who are familiar with his live shows have seen countless times before. And with this Winter in the Wilderness Tour, McMahon has again shown that whether he has a full band or it’s just him and his piano, his live show is not to be missed.