Guided by Voices w/ Times New Viking, Cannery Ballroom, Nashville, TN - 1/14/2011

I first saw the "classic" GBV line-up in 1995 at the Masquerade in Atlanta, GA.  We drove down without tickets (5 hours from my South Carolina hometown), rocked out to them with support from Chavez (!!) and Sixteen Deluxe, chowed down post-show at a Waffle House and then drove back home, getting back to Sumter at 7 in the morning.  It was fairly epic.  GBV was touring Alien Lanes and were every bit as awesome as I could have imagined.  They opened with "Shocker in Gloomtown," ended the main set with "Echos Myron," and basically left me speechless.

I proceeded to see the newer incarnations of GBV multiple times over the years, including four (!) times on their farewell tour in 2004.  I was and remain a bit of a fan.  When they announced the classic line-up tour for 2010, I was a bit peeved at myself for not making the effort to see them in Vegas or Columbus, but I just couldn't swing it.

Lo and behold, they decide to come down to Nashville for a big rock show.  My fiancee moved down here more or less the same day as this show, but she still made it out there with me for what proved to be a long night of rock.  We met up with friends and actually grabbed a great spot, which in the Cannery is a huge deal.

First up was Times New Viking, whom I'd seen in Columbus before.  They've never really done it for me, and tonight was no exception.  It was fun enough, I guess, but nothing too fantastic.

Without too much down time in between, Uncle Bob and company took the stage.  They proceeded to rock a very long, exhaustive setlist that should pop up on http://www.gbvdb.com/ any day now and from which I'll transfer to here.  They pretty much hit all the classics, even hitting a couple tunes from Mag Earwhig!.  The band sounded tight-ish though not overly professional.  Bob was great as ever, drinking hard, doing big kicks, and sounding great.  Tobin Sprout looked the same as in 1995.  The rest of the band looked a good deal older/worse for the wear, but they delivered the goods.

Similar to seeing Pavement last year, it was a great nostalgia trip but not exactly a "great" show.  I had a blast, I sang along, I loved every minute of it, but it definitely reminded me that you can't bottle the magic of a certain time/place (see 1995 above) and recreate it all over again.  All of which also underscored the very powerful reaction I had to seeing the Walkmen the following night, i.e. seeing a band in their prime and at the height of their powers.

We left after the first encore, and they apparently came back for a second encore that included "Motor Away" (doh!).  Also, Jim James was spotted by friends at the show, though we missed him personally.