Roger Waters - The Wall, Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN - 06/19/2012

I'm playing big time catch up on my 2012 shows toward the end of the year. Working in the real world gets super busy. Sadly, over almost 6 months, I only have about 5 shows to report. I really am getting old, I guess.

First up, the wife and I paid a bit too much for some really good tickets to what I would best describe as a Broadway spectacle reworking of an album that is very near and dear to my 12 year old self. I did see John Prine sitting a few rows in front of us, which was beyond cool. He's kind of short in real life.

So it was a huge production with all the explosions and frills one would have expected. We "ran like hell" (sorry, couldn't resist) right around the end of "Run Like Hell" and didn't stick around to the very end. All in all, it was cool in the way that a crazy musical with lots of staging and effects is cool but not very "rock." It left me a bit cold, all in all, though I'm not sure what I was expecting otherwise. I should probably just stick to the club-sized venues.

Chavez w/ Endless Boogie, Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY - 05/18/2012

I made it up to NYC for a boys' weekend, as most of my best friends from college reside in Manhattan. Seeing Chavez, who have blown my mind for years, was the motivating force for this (as if one needs a huge motivation for a weekend in the city). I first saw Chavez open for Silkworm in 1994 at the now defunct Columbia, SC, spot Annie's, and they absolutely killed. I saw them many more times in the 90's including opening for Guided by Voices on the Alien Lanes tour in Atlanta, GA, and headling Cat's Cradle when they were touring Ride the Fader. I even made it up to Brooklyn to see them at the also defunct Warsaw in 2006 for an incredible reunion show. Needless to say, I was pumped.

I flew into LaGuardia and took the M60 in, which my friends think is crazy. We all met up and grabbed dinner at Mexican Radio before heading to Bowery Ballroom for the show (which, oddly, I had never been to before). I was feeling pretty good about things when I saw Kim Gordon and J. Mascis just hanging at the bar having drinks.

While I wanted to check out Endless Boogie opening the show, I was too busy catching up friends to tear myself away. Believe me when I tell you that we were upstairs and ready when Chavez took the stage and proceeded to blast through all of Gone Glimmering, most of Ride the Fader and absolutely killed their first single, "Repeat the Ending." These songs are Emerson, Lake and Palmer levels of complex, and they just killed them song after song. I was blown away, I got drunk and I wanted to talk to some of my indie rock heroes but (thankfully) thought better of it. (Great writeup of this on Brooklyn Vegan with videos, too.)

Nailed to the Blank Spot

You Must Be Stopped

Break Up Your Band

Laugh Track

You Faded

New Room

Unreal Is Here

Tight Around the Jaws

Peeled Out Too Late

The Ghost By The Sea

Pentagram Ring

"Untitled/New Jam"

Wakeman's Air

Our Boys Will Shine Tonight

The Flaming Gong

Relaxed Fit

Encore:

Top Pocket Man

Repeat the Ending

The next morning was painful, but we did manage to grab some awesome food at Katz's, watch the already historic Chelsea-Bayern Munich soccer match and end the evening with a bevy of good beers at Jimmy's No. 43. I was sad to leave Sunday but needed to give my liver a timeout.

This will be another tough show to beat for 2012 and is certainly a top 3 so far.

Counting Crows, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN - 05/05/2012

I would like to say that my wife dragged me kicking and screaming to this show, but in reality I was somewhat excited to get to see a band that at least at one point in my teenage years I was quite fond of. I'll add that I still pull out August and Everything After every once in a while and enjoy the hell out of it.

Our tickets from craigslist negotiating landed us on about the 12th row of the main floor near the center, so not too shabby. The Ryman was packed with an average age probably around 35 years if I had to guess, though older and younger folks were to be found.

We caught the last two songs from a not particularly good opener and settled in. And I'll admit it - it was awesome. First off, the crowd was rapturously into the band, which you don't see in Nashville that often. Secondly, the band really brought it, which surprised me. Very high energy, very fun. Lastly, they have a pretty thick back catalog by now, and combined with some truly killer covers (see below), it makes for quite the song selection. I of course loved hearing "Round Here" and the other August songs, but who knew that "A Long December" or even "Hanginaround" would get me? Well, they did. Just being honest.

Round Here

Untitled (Love Song) (The Romany Rye cover)

I Wish I Was a Girl

Daylight Fading

Hospital (Coby Brown cover)

Black and Blue

When I Dream of Michelangelo

Mrs. Potter's Lullaby

Omaha

Mercy

Like Teenage Gravity (Kasey Anderson cover)

Good Time

A Long December

Return of the Grievous Angel (Gram Parsons cover)

You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (Bob Dylan cover)

Hanginaround

Encore:

Ballad of El Goodo (Big Star cover)

Rain King (Thunder Road lyrics)

Encore 2:

Come Around

Holiday in Spain

The Melvins with Unsane, Exit/In, Nashville, TN - 05/04/2012

I thought I had taken at least one terrible iPhone photo at this show but alas did not. I met up with friends at the Gold Rush as Unsane was finishing what sounded like an incredibly loud, punishing set, and we made our way into a very-though-not-unpleasantly packed Exit/In.

Without much ado or too much wait, the mighty Melvins took the stage and ran through an absolute non-stop barrage of tunes. It was heavy, and loud, and did not stop for breath. They had King Buzzo on the far left, two drummers (including Dale Crover) in the center and the other vocalist/bass player on the right. I can't say that they are my favorite band ever or that I could even really tell you one song title from another, but I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Some more effusive and exhaustive reviews are out there, so I will leave it up to you whether to delve too deeply or not, but it was a fun time.

Brendan Benson, Young Hines and the Howling Brothers, Mercy Lounge, Nashville, TN - 04/28/2012

My super cool neighbor Chris produced Brendan's last album and asked my wife and me to come check out the album release show. No pictures or setlists to pass on, but it was fun all around. First off, the Howling Brothers did a fantastic opening set of old timey tunes followed by an impressive, power pop set from Young Hines that included a couple songs that have been stuck in my craw since first hearing them. Brendan put on a very tight, very fun set that was high energy and just very, very good without much in the way of gimmicks.

I don't have a history with his music that stretches way back so I thus don't have a ton to write, but I had a great time and was incredibly impressed with the whole lineup.

Van Halen, Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN - 04/27/2012

Wow, was that bad. A train wreck. The worst is that I had such high hopes for finally seeing a band that I truly, deeply love. As one can see from the photo, we were sitting in the cheap seats, which didn't help. It was about 90-something degrees in the venue, which was strike two. But the sound ... oh, it was a low end morass of nothingness wherein I often couldn't tell what song was being played.

Our friends and I did start the evening with a lovely dinner at the Wild Hare, which continues to impress on most every level. We then headed over and enjoyed a nice stroll down Broadway into the venue.

But then it all fell apart ... the seats, the heat, the sound ... I should definitely accept by now that if I'm going to some big show like this, I've got to spring for great tickets or just not go at all. I'm spoiled like that. I thought with an opening one-two punch like "Unchained" and "Runnin' With the Devil" that I could get past the terrible-ness of some of the aforementioned issues, but it never coalesced. And the new songs ... so, soooo bad. I felt some hope during the riff for "Dance the Night Away" and some awe when Eddie flawlessly pulled off the "Hot for Teacher" intro, but then everything would sag in on itself again, with bad David Lee Roth-isms galore, a terrible video stage show that looked pretty paltry compared to most shows of this size these days, and (did I mention this already?) insufferable sound.

Why oh why? I should have just appreciated them for the greatness that they once were rather than try to relive it today. Note to self - when the Stones or the Sex Pistols or the Stone Roses come rumbin' through, think twice before going all in.

It probably didn't help, either, that I was running the half-marathon a few hours later and had that in the back of my mind the whole time. But wow ... colossal reunion tour fail ...

For the sake of posterity, the setlist (we left during the guitar solo):
Unchained
Runnin' With the Devil
She's the Woman
Romeo Delight
Tattoo
Everybody Wants Some!!
Somebody Get Me a Doctor
China Town
Hear About It Later
Oh, Pretty Woman
Drum Solo
You Really Got Me
The Trouble with Never
Dance the Night Away
I'll Wait
Hot for Teacher
Women In Love
Girl Gone Bad
Beautiful Girls
Ice Cream Man (preceded by a loooong video montage of DLR's dogs ... seriously)
Panama
Guitar Solo
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
Jump

Andrew Bird w/ Eugene Mirman, The Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN - 3/19/2012

We met up with friends and pre-partied for this one at Fleet St Pub in Printers Alley, which continue to impress me time and time again. I highly recommend the Hatton Cross Hot Hen and the fish and chips, of course.

We got into the Ryman in time to see Eugene Mirman, whom I met back in 2004 when he opened for Modest Mouse:

He's gotten a good deal more famous since then to be sure, and his act was good. Not the greatest, funniest thing ever, but it was fun and smart.

Andrew Bird, on the other hand, just didn't really turn my crank this time around. He's certainly beyond talented and has some fine material, but this felt very dialed in to me. He played some classics during the set ("Measuring Cups," "Plasticities" [which he totally flubbed]) and closed out with "Tables and Chairs" and "Fake Palindromes," but it was just a very meh show for me. We left after the main set, and I hear that he played quite the slew of encores, so maybe I missed the best part. Having seen him many times over the years, though, this was probably the least memorable performance I've witnessed.