Bon Iver w/ the Rosebuds, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN - 7/27/2011

Having seen Bon Iver touring For Emma ... a few times (mainly at festivals, truth be told), I was pretty excited to see how this new, expanded sound was going to translate live and affect the old tunes. Friends and I met up at Puckett's beforehand for a beer, which was probably not the best choice after all, but there really aren't all that many great, low key options near the Ryman.

We completely missed the Rosebuds, who have a tune or two that I like, but were there for the main show. The beginning 5 tunes were incredibly strong and super tight. "Holocene" is up there with anything he's done yet. The middle section dragged for me big time, but then came "Re: Stacks" followed by an incredibly strong run of his other really great new songs ("Calgary" and "Beth/Rest") and a great closer in "For Emma."

The encore was great, esp. the age old Ryman move of playing "Skinny Love" sans amplification at the edge of the stage. It goes without saying, but his voice live is something to behold. Great show.

Perth
Minnesota, WI
Holocene
Towers
Creature Fear -> Team
Beach Baby
Hinnom, TX
Wash.
Blood Bank
If Hollywood Don't Need You (Don Williams cover)
Re: Stacks
Calgary
Beth/Rest
For Emma

Encore:
Flume
The Wolves
Skinny Love

Bill Callahan, Mercy Lounge, Nashville, TN - 7/17/2011

My buddy and I somehow rallied on a "school" night to hit this show. Being on the guest list helps, as there isn't as much investment. We headed in around 9:45 to a pretty rough opening act (a spoken word, experimental kind of thing) and just chilled on the deck.

We then made it in and grabbed some stools to sit back and enjoy it. Bill had a 2-piece backing band consisting of a guitarist and a drummer mainly playing brushes They really helped flesh things out and were quite tight with Bill. He was quite animated and seemed to be digging it, playing acoustic guitar the whole show.

I didn't take down the whole setlist, and we left prior to the end of the main set, anyway, because we are old and needed sleep, but he played most of Apocalypse as well as a few classics such as "Eid Maw Clack Shaw," "Too Many Birds" (which killed) and "Our Anniversary."

I wish that this show had started at 9 instead, but such is life.

U2 w/ Florence and the Machine, Vanderbilt Stadium, Nashville, TN - 7/2/2011

My fiancee moved to Nashville in January this year, and when we found out that both Paul Simon and U2 (her 2 favorites) would be playing within 5 miles of our home during her first year here, it felt quite special. With that in mind, I gave her some amazing seats (the Red Zone) for her 30th birthday, and we had been anticipating this show for almost a year. In addition, this weekend was a huge party of friends and family all coming in and filling the house, making this a true celebration.

We all started the day with a cookout and many beers at our house. Since we live about 2 miles from the stadium, we took a cab over, grabbed a pre-show drink in PF Chang's (which was insanity in and of itself), and made our way in. The Red Zone was a pretty amazing vantage for this show. We got ourselves a couple pints of Guinness and waited for the show.

Florence and the Machine opened and were a complete snoozefest. I had expected a bit more of a show from this outfit, but it was just not clicking.

U2 came out to a full stadium, and the feelings were pretty magical and, honestly, a bit nostalgic for me. The opening suite of numbers from Achtung Baby was the highlight of the whole night for me. Just amazing tunes, and it was cool that they were comfortable playing them in order like that. So many other highlights, as well, including their first performance ever of "The Wanderer," a rousing ending with "All I Want Is You," and just a slew of stone cold classic tunes.

My only complaint: the encore featured "Hold Me ..." instead of "Ultraviolet," but that's about my only negative comment. Well, that, and the fact that getting cab after the show was nothing short of impossible.

It was a great show and a magic weekend for us.

Setlist:

Even Better Than The Real Thing
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
Until The End Of The World
I Will Follow
Get On Your Boots
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / The Wanderer (2 verses)
Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
Beautiful Day
Elevation
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Miss Sarajevo
Zooropa
City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight / Discothèque (snippet)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Scarlet
Walk On

ENCORE:

One
Where The Streets Have No Name
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender
All I Want Is You

Notes: This is just the second U2 concert ever in Nashville, 29 years and 7 months after the first. It is also the first U2 concert anywhere in the state of Tennessee since 14 May 1997, Memphis. The snippet of The Wanderer is quite lengthy, running to two verses, and had never been played live before. At the end of the show, Bono pulls a member of the crowd who happens to be blind on stage to play guitar; he performs All I Want Is You with the band, dedicating it to his wife.

The Long Players perform STICKY FINGERS in its entirety, Frist Museum, Nashville, TN - 6/24/2011

In honor of the Andy Warhol retrospective (which we saw at the Wexner in Columbus, OH, and found amazing) opening, the Frist had the Long Players on board to play Sticky Fingers all the way through. The Long Players are basically ace studio musicians with various folks taking lead vocals for each song.

Knowing this was the Frist, we got there right at 6:00 PM, and sure enough, they were launching right into "Brown Sugar" as we walked up. One cool thing was that they had Bobby Keys, the original saxophonist on the album, sitting in with them. Another cool thing was that one of the guest vocalists was Dan Baird of Georgia Satellites and solo fame.

One great highlight was Keys telling the story of recording "Can't You Hear Me Knocking?" in one take (!) and how Mick hated sax solos in rock songs. The band was very tight, of course, though at times they were too tight, in that they lost some of that Stones swing/swagger on tracks like "Sway." They killed "Can't You Hear ..." and "Moonlight Mile," though.

They played a second set of other Stones tunes, but we had to split before then. Sure enough, they played Sticky Fingers in original order and quite spot on ...

Okkervil River w/ Titus Andronicus and Future Islands, Newport Music Hall, Columbus, OH - 6/11/2011

We were up in Columbus for a wedding and decided somewhat last minute to catch this show, starting with a lovely meal with friends at Third & Hollywood (still great). It wasn't too crowded, and we walked in, grabbed a couple beers and settled in for the last few songs from Future Islands, whom I thought sounded great. Very Joy Division-ish. Not a lot of stage charisma, but it's something I could imagine listening to on my stereo.

Next up was Titus Andronicus, and I had high hopes for seeing these guys (and gal) bring it live. Their sound is just not my thing at all, though: super chaotic, no discernible melody, unable to tell one song from another. They were charasmatic and had me rooting for them, but I just didn't enjoy them at all.

Finally was Okkervil River. I saw them play an absolute knockout show back in 2005 in Austin, TX. They are basically a different band now, though - much more professional and slick. Also lacking a little of the passion/fire/what have you that they once carried. There were some highlights, such as the slowed down, acoustic "No Key, No Plan" and the "hits" toward the end.

We ended up leaving before the encore, so we missed Westfall, which is a bummer. It was great seeing friends and hanging, but the show left something to be desired for me.

White Shadow Waltz
A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene
The Latest Toughs
Rider
Starry Stairs
Wake and Be Fine
Piratess
The Valley
John Allyn Smith Sails
No Key, No Plan (Acoustic)
So Come Back, I Am Waiting
Your Past Life as a Blast
For Real
Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe
Lost Coastlines

Encore:
The Rise
Westfall
Unless It's Kicks

Same As It Ever Was - Talking Heads Tribute Band, The Frist Museum, Nashville, TN - 5/27/2011

My old friend Michael was in town for a long weekend, which was in and of itself great, and this little show happened to be going on. We had dinner prior at the Local Taco (nice!) and a drink before the show at the Flying Saucer (meh) before heading in. This was not a mind-blowing show or anything, but the weather was great, the sun was setting, the location behind the Frist was fantastic and the band did a reasonably good Talking Heads with a lot of the hits, including "Naive Melody," "Burning Down the House," "Girlfriend is Better," and "Crosseyed and Painless."

Paul Simon, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN - 5/19/2011

We were pretty dang excited about this one. When Paul Simon announced that he was not only playing Nashville but actually playing the Ryman, my jaw kind of dropped. Knowing this was probably once in a lifetime, we sprang for some good seats and just went all out. I've loved his work since before I really had a concept of music, and the same goes for my better half.

We pre-partied at a business dinner at Virago, which was yummy but a bit rushed on our side, as we had to get over to the Ryman before this thing started. We looked for Hatch Show Prints, of course, but they were not offered for this show. Bummer.

We got to our seats ...

... just before 7:30, and by 7:40 he and his band had taken the stage. (Glad we left dinner early.)

They sounded great, volume was just right, crowd was appropriately into it. I got lost in my own little world for a huge part of this show, not really concious of the surroundings, which was a cool feeling. The band was large (8 or so folks) but so very right on and rarely if ever feeling like too much. And great players, of course.

The highlights were numerous, and my personals were kind of obvious for me ... Mother and Child Reunion, That Was Your Mother and Hearts and Bones was killer three songs in a row, as were Peace Like a River, The Obvious Child (which was stunningly good) and The Only Living Boy in New York.

The first encore was great, but the second encore was stupendous, esp. a very affecting reading of "The Boxer" with Jerry Douglas sounding amazing on dobro (and the whole crowd singing along loudly). An unplanned closer of The Boy In The Bubble was a huge treat for me, too.

If I had to have a complaint, it's that I thought we'd get Graceland in Nashville, but no dice. This will be a tough show to beat in 2011 for me ... he sounded amazingly vital, the new stuff sounded great even stacked against the old stuff ... a life-affirming show ...

Crazy Love, Vol. II
Dazzling Blue
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
So Beautiful or So What
Slip Slidin' Away
Vietnam (Jimmy Cliff cover)
Mother and Child Reunion
That Was Your Mother
Hearts and Bones
Mystery Train (Little Junior's Blue Flames cover)
Wheels (Chet Atkins cover)
Darling Lorraine
Rewrite
Peace Like a River
The Obvious Child
The Only Living Boy in New York
Love Is Eternal Sacred Light
Questions for the Angels
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
Gumboots

Encore 1:
The Sound of Silence (solo acoustic)
Kodachrome
Gone At Last
Here Comes the Sun
Late in the Evening

Encore 2:
Still Crazy After All These Years
Bye Bye Love w/ Don Everly (The Everly Brothers cover)

The Boxer (with Jerry Douglas on Dobro - first time played on this tour)

Encore 3:
The Boy in the Bubble