Grinderman, Cannery Ballroom, Nashville, TN - 11/19/2010

Good Lord was this a rocking show.  I'm a late comer to the Nick Cave cult, having really gotten into him probably around 2004 or so with the release of his B-sides collection (which is quite awesome, by the way).  My buddy Kevin, a long-time Cave devotee who has seen him with the Bad Seeds multiple times on multiple continents throughout the years, and I bought tickets for this the day they went on sale.

It had been a while since I last hit the Cannery, a notoriously not great place to see (and especially to hear) a show, what with it's odd shape and tendency for a lot of sound bouncing around the room, but it's Nick Cave et al - what are you going to do?

We grabbed dinner at McCabe's beforehand and missed the openers entirely.  By the time we arrived, it was pretty packed out, and without much ado, the lights went down and Nick Cave came out for what was a slamming, ultra tight rockfest.  He is one crazy awesome frontman, not quite as frenetic as Iggy Pop but extremely arresting and hard not to watch.

They came on very strong, basically playing "the hits," opening with "Mickey Mouse" and rocking through "Get It On," "Heathen Child," some other rockers off their two records and culminating in a scorching "No Pussy Blues."  The biggest issue is that after that crescendo toward the end of the main set, it went all mid-tempo and gooey for the remainder of the set.  It would've been basically impossible to keep up that level of rock, but it still kind of petered out a bit at the end.  But the highs were very high indeed ... fantastic stuff ...

The Cannery, of note, offered little good viewing space unless you were at the very front.  The sound was loud and clear where we were (straight back from the stage).  I've found that you have line up with the stage and can't be caught over at the bar side for decent sound.  It was a tolerable space for the show, though it remains my least favorite Nashville venue by a long shot.

Deerhunter, Exit/In, Nashville, TN - 11/10/2010

This show was a long time coming in the sense that I had not been able to check much out recently due to studying and - finally - taking some big professional exams.  I finished my last one this afternoon and was in full on release mode.  We got there just in time for Deakin's set (of Animal Collective), which sounded like Animal Collective minus much melody.  I have the record, so maybe it will grow on me ...

Deerhunter came out to a pretty packed house and from the get go sounded awesome.  They did their usual thing, which in my eyes includes ending each song in a noisy meltdown that then goes straight into the next song.  Their rhythm section is so locked in that it really works.  Their live sound has become so minimalist in a lot of ways that it reminds me most of a Krautrock type of vibe, which is right up my alley.

They played the hits, including "Nothing Ever Happened," which killed as usual.  Probably my biggest issue was that it ended around 1 in the morning, and I'm getting old, kids.  Great show ...