Noah Kahan dug deep into the archives during his show at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. last night (July 22nd). Fans have been losing their minds over it, with the folk titan performing one of his early songs ‘Please’ for the first time in almost seven years. He teased the inclusion ahead of time, playfully posting, “Please tonight queen?”

For newer fans, it might have seemed like a nice surprise, or even an “Is this a new song?!” moment. For those who've been following Kahan since the beginning, it was much bigger than that.

The track was originally released on the Vermont native's 2018 Hurt Somebody EP, and comes from a completely different chapter of Kahan's career. It predates Busyhead. It predates Stick Season. It predates the flannel shirts, sold out stadiums and the New England storytelling that has become so closely associated with him.

Kahan hasn’t performed the song live since November 2019, making its return one of the rarest moments of The Great Divide Tour.

Perhaps what's most interesting is that, although 'Please' sounds very different from the music Kahan is making today, you can hear the songwriter he was about to become.

Long before he was writing about Vermont, growing up and trying to find where he belonged, he was writing about homesickness. Long before songs like 'Homesick' and 'The View Between Villages', he was singing about missing his parents, his dogs and the comfort of home while trying to build a career that kept taking him further away from it. Those themes have never really disappeared, but grown with him.

It's easy to forget just how quickly everything has happened for Kahan. When 'Please' was released, he was still trying to introduce himself as an artist. Today, he's headlining baseball stadiums, breaking records and has become one of the biggest names in folk and Americana. We’d go as far to say he’s the biggest thing in folk since Bob Dylan. A true reviver of the genre.

Artists often leave older songs behind as their catalogue grows. Sometimes they no longer fit the show. Sometimes they've simply outgrown them. But every now and then, bringing one back is a reminder that the person who wrote those songs still exists.

Judging by the reaction fans knew exactly how special the moment was. Some songs never really leave an artist, he was maybe just waiting for the right night to bring it back.