To say the situation was “uncomfortably wet” Tuesday night as we pushed through clouds of cigarette smoke into the dark confines of The End would be a bit of an understatement, but for some reason the trudge through the cold rain that plagued most of Valentine’s Day was almost a welcome warmup for the experience that lie ahead.
WRVU hosted Boyscott, Spirit Week, The Pills, Born Animal, and Wax Mistress at The End around Thanksgiving for our first annual Turkey Jerky Jam! Now you can relive (or experience for the first time, if you missed it) the thrilling experience all up close and personal right here on the internet from the comfort of your screen.
For those of you who missed it, Stop Resisting recently had a show in the basement of Towers. The set-up was great, with curtains over the door and multicolored lights playing off the walls. However, for some of us concert goers it was a little difficult to tell what exactly was going on with this new band. They played a mix of originals and covers, and while I was incredibly entertained, I needed to find out a little more about this new band. I emailed one of the band members, Will Braithwaite, and he got me the inside scoop. So without further ado, I give you Stop Resisting.
On Saturday night, I experienced one of my favorite concerts in my entire concert-going career with a band that I least expected. While I have seen Catfish and the Bottlemen perform live before and enjoy listening to their music, I would not place them at the top of the list of my favorite artists. However, I promised my friend and favorite concert-buddy Haley that I’d go with her because they were on her bucket list of bands to see live.
One thing that DIIV has undeniably cultivated is a certain, for lack of a better word, aesthetic—that quintessentially millennial, carelessly cool, baggy-shirt-baggy-pants-European-jazz-shoes Brooklynite look that perfectly matches their laid-back, yet guitar-heavy, washed-out sound. Despite their niche persona (or perhaps because of it), they have wide appeal, and wowed the crowded High Watt last night at their show.
Also, there was a lot of sweat.
My Wednesday started last week with my professor cancelling my 6-9pm class so that he could watch the Cubs game. I was pretty pumped because having a three hour class on Wednesday nights is beyond brutal, but on top of that, I received a text from my friend Haley begging me to go with her to see Wild Nothing perform that night. While I had never heard of the band before, my love for discovering new music inclined me to say yes, and I am so glad that I did.
Last Tuesday night, droves of Saint Motel fans packed into the dim, cozy space of Cannery Ballroom, anticipating the eclectic show that was to come. Among those fans were fellow Vanderbilt students, high schoolers, and even a few parent-aged folks. Despite Saint Motel’s indie-pop label, this diverse crowd is a testament to the wide-ranging appeal of their high-energy sound and quirky stage performance.
Vanderbilt’s annual fall concert has traditionally been headlined by at least one hip-hop act. Last year’s lineup of The Band Perry and Third Eye Blind broke this trend, leading to a confused and disinterested student body. Music Board this year had the task of bringing the crowd back to Memorial Gym. Given the full floor and general campus excitement, it seems like Big Sean and A$AP Ferg accomplished just that.
Pilgrimage is a Franklin music festival that seems to be themed around largely AC/DC rip off bands. That said, for a music festival in its second year, they attracted some big names: Violent Femmes, Cake, and Beck, to name a few.
Everyone’s new favorite band, Whitney, has captured the hearts of many an ironic-flower-crown American millennial with just half an hour (exactly half an hour) of recorded music. At Exit/In Monday night, they recaptured those same hearts during the first show of their fall tour.
Photo credit: Jeff Lombardo
Last night I had the honor of being graced by the presence of Queen Bey herself. Hitting Nashville as part of her Formation World Tour, the show was nothing short of spectacular; there were fireworks, pools of water, and instantaneous costume changes throughout the course of the performance.
Last Friday, I got the opportunity to see my favorite band, St. Lucia, perform for the third time. When I say favorite band, I mean more along the lines of obsession, so this concert was something that I had been waiting for since the last time that I saw them in November 2014. I saw them open for Foster the People in 2013, and something about their tropical, 80’s-like vibes just got to me, and I fell in love with their colorful, vibrant music.
Coming off of the Yeezus tour, it was hard to imagine where Kanye West would take his live performance vision. How do you top a giant mountain, pyrotechnics, models, and even a visit from Jesus? Simple: make the stage fly.
Riding fresh off the success of his Blank Face LP, published just two months ago, Top Dawg Entertainment heavy hitter Schoolboy Q played to an absolutely packed Marathon Music Works last night, with Pro Era poster boy Joey Badass opening. Bucket hats abound.
I was justifiably skeptical in my approach Marathon Music Works for Miike Snow’s return to Nashville after their three year hiatus to pursue personal projects. My sentiment was further warped upon waiting in line to receive my ticket and photo pass, when I was eavesdropping on a woman behind me that was ‘desperately in need of a sitter.’ It was in that instant that I was struck with the realization that I was utterly companionless, afloat in a sea of financial-independence. The late-twenty to late-thirty-year old crowd filled up all the space around me and I buckled in to receive whatever was coming my way.
Last summer, a friend and I somewhat spontaneously decided to go to Shaky Knees music festival in Atlanta, partially to avoid the mess of Vanderbilt graduation and partially because of the killer 2015 lineup. We each had our own personal ideas of bands we wanted to see, but as with any music festival (especially a smaller one like Shaky Knees, where there were only at most two bands playing at the same time), we often had a bit of unscheduled time to casually listen to bands that we weren’t familiar with or didn’t know at all. One such band was Dr. Dog.
Last Tuesday marked Yo La Tengo’s triumphant return to Nashville at Exit/In with a concert that was likely one of the biggest genre-rollercoasters of a set I’ve ever seen. Through the band’s decades of genre-bending with their largely varied discography, I couldn’t expect the show to be any different, and it didn’t disappoint.
Omar Moctar, aka Bombino and his band are men of action. No introduction. No witty banter. The band just played, brilliantly.
On Sunday March 13th, Ra Ra Riot graced Nashville with an lively performance at Exit/In. The crowd cheered the band into a two song encore, causing the show to end well after midnight. I can honestly say it was the most fun I’ve had on a Sunday night in quite a while. Opening for the band was PWR BTTM, a queer punk duo (their words, not mine) and Sun Club, a psychedelic indie band which describes themselves as “a group of buddies playing happy music.” Both were great, but I particularly enjoyed PWR BTTM (I suggest you look up their single “I Wanna Boi.”)
Kurt Vile tickets were in such high demand that the show moved from Exit/In to Marathon; they eventually sold out there as well. Everyone, it seemed, was clamoring to see the man behind the deep, droning voice whose b’lieve i’m goin down… rounded out the latest addition to his successful solo career.