Bruce Springsteen, Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN - 04/17/2014

I was excited for this one ... the Boss on the eve of my birthday. My wife and I had dinner at Etch beforehand (pretty good, though I'm not crazy about how they combine sweet and savory on everything - fruit on every dish, etc). We sat right next to Peter Frampton, which was kind of crazy.

We made it into the Bridgestone and were in the general admission, standing room floor section. We were close enough, but once the show started, there was no moving or going to get drinks, etc.

The Boss came out around 8 PM and launched into "High Hopes." On this tour, he has a large band including backup singers and a full horn section. I found it to be too much and a bit bombastic at times. Honestly, this show didn't do it for me all that much ... a bit hokey (lots of singing with children), 10 of 28 songs off the last few records (not my favorites), too much going on, songs that went on ... and on ... and on ("The Ghost of Tom Joad" and "41 Shots" stand out as ones that could've used some editing).

On the flip side, when he pared things down like he did on an absolutely killer "I'm On Fire," he sounded amazing. That's what I want from my Springsteen show ... pared down, downbeat. But I'm in the minority, as most people loved it and were thrilled, The Scene included.

Sadly, we left during the encore (during "Point Blank," a personal favorite - we were just dead tired and not feeling it), missing his first US performance of "Born in the USA" in 5 years. My wife and I were in the minority, but this just wasn't our show.

High Hopes
Badlands
No Surrender
Death to My Hometown
Hungry Heart
Spirit in the Night
Burning Love
Satisfaction
Atlantic City
Johnny 99
American Skin (41 Shots)
The Promised Land
Because the Night
I'm on Fire
Downbound Train
Shackled and Drawn
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
The Ghost of Tom Joad
The Rising
Land of Hope and Dreams
---
The Wall
Point Blank
Born in the U.S.A.
Born to Run
Dancing in the Dark
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out
Shout
Thunder Road (solo acoustic)

Superchunk, Mercy Lounge, Nashville, TN - 04/11/2014

Whoa ... this show was amazing. We have been on a roll (Real Estate, Television, now friggin' Superchunk). This is a band that I first got into when I originally "got into" music as a young teen - 7 inch records, zines, the whole bit. They have always killed it live, and I've found that their newer stuff (especially 2010's Majesty Shredding) is as good as anything from their "golden era."

Well, they brought it all. My wife and I started the night at a wine tasting (always a nice way to start an evening) and then made it over to the show, meeting up with friends and getting ready for the rock. I hadn't jumped around at a show (as far as I can recall) since seeing Wolf Parade play "Shine a Light" a few years back; well, I jumped around a few times at this one. They sounded great, played a fantastic mix of tunes and seemed to have fun. Great crowd - into it but not crazy, full but not I-can't-breathe packed ... just perfecto ...

Photos and writeup from The Scene ...

Driveway to Driveway
FOH
Learned to Surf
Detroit Has a Skyline
Punch Me Harder
Void
Out of the Sun
Watery Hands
Crossed Wires
Low F
Animated Airplanes Over Germany
Mower
Me and You and Jackie Mitoo
Digging for Something
Slack Motherfucker
Precision Auto
---
Hyper Enough
Throwing Things

Television w/ Tristen, Exit/In, Nashville, TN - 03/31/2014

Of shows that I've been pumped to see, this has got to rank right up there - a band that made one of my favorite records in all of history playing an uber-historic club a couple of miles from my house. So what if they may be past their prime or not with their original guitarist? It's Television - godfathers of post punk. You can't miss a show like this.

This was a boys-only show for friends and me. We met up and headed over en masse to see Tristen getting started, totally solo and sounding quite good. After a brief intermission and with little fanfare, Television came out with fairly stark lighting and about a 5-minute noodle/tune up session. (They tune by ear, which is not something you see everyday.)

They launched into "1880 or So," and similar to the Real Estate show I'd seen 48 hours earlier, the sound was phenomenal:  very clean with monstrous bottom end, perfect tones, just sick. Jimmy Rip's solo on that first tune was monstrous. The first 5 songs or so were just off the chart great and one of my best recent concert experiences. Toward the middle/end, things dragged a bit and got somewhat wonky. They came back together for "Marquee Moon," though that felt slightly perfunctory to me.

Hard to overstate how epic this show was. The Scene felt so, too (photos there); another good write-up here ...

Intro/Tuning
1880 Or So
Prove It
Elevation
Glory
Torn Curtain
Venus
Little Johnny Jewel
See No Evil
Persia
I'm Gonna Find You
Marquee Moon
---
Guiding Light
Psychotic Reaction

Real Estate w/ Pure X, Exit/In, Nashville, TN - 03/29/2014

This was one of the first shows that I hit up with a large group of friends in a while. We all met up at our house and had some beers (and a very nice 2012 Migration Chardonnay - Split Rail Vineyard) before heading over the show.

Pure X were doing their very ambient, smooth thing when we came in. Pretty good, if not that memorable.

Real Estate then came out and were just flat out great. They sounded amazing - truly impressive how fleshed out and full the whole thing came off. They did most of the outstanding cuts from Days, though they didn't play "Out of Tune," which was a major bummer for me. No setlist on this one, so I'm not sure of the whole thing. They played almost all of the last record, which sounded great live. Even the vocals, which I was nervous about, sounded great.

Nice writeup from The Scene available with some photos ...