A Decade of Concerts

Things I learned in Grad School: Wordle

Today marks the end of the first decade of my concert-going life. Back in 2003, my dad got me tickets to see Matchbox Twenty with openers Sugar Ray at the AmSouth Amphitheater here in Nashville, and ever since I've been chasing the good spirits that come with catching a much-loved band live.

If you're interested in a full account of that first show, you can check out a post I wrote last year for all-around-cool Tumblr Gigs Reflex.

I'm a big believer in documenting things, so I got a little excited when I found a MB20 concert DVD tapped in Atlanta, a mere three nights after their Nashville date called Show: A Night in the Life of Matchbox Twenty. Rest assured it's on my Amazon Wish List.




But beyond capturing MB20 on video or blogging about some of the bigger shows I see, I decided this year to put together a Google Docs spreadsheet with the nuts and bolts of every show I've been to in the past ten years– headliner, opener, venue, date, and who came along. While seeing shows shouldn't be a numbers game, I can't say I don't enjoy adding rows to the document. I used the columns devoted to venues and artists to make a word cloud using Wordle. I suppose the big story of my concert-going life is that I end up at the Ryman Auditorium more often than not. I was surprised to see Syracuse's Westcott Theater as big as it is since I was only up North for a year, but I guess looking back, I made more than a few stops. I was also pleasantly amused to realize that I've seen friends' bands as many time as I've seen some of my favorite acts like Andrew Bird or The National.

Style-wise, the outliers in this mix are definitely T.I. and Public Enemy, but yes, I have indeed seen them. Dawes should probably be a bit bigger considering that the three times I've seen them have been well inside of one calendar year. Special points for that, right? What else. I'm weirdly proud to have seen the Flaming Lips. Even if they're not my favorite or even most familiar band, they are probably my favorite live show to date for not only being a joyous spectacle, but for this particular performance at Rites of Spring when it started raining lightly as they came on stage and we were just all so happy to have survived the mosh pit for N.E.R.D.. The show that represents the biggest achievement is probably the Avett Brothers from last month. You can't even really make it out on the Wordle, but know that it took me six years to catch them on tour.

So, that's the decade. It's been great and my hearing has probably suffered as a result, but I've also found that going to shows is one of my favorite things to do. I'd call that a gift.

Here's to the next ten years.

Dawes Plays the Ryman Auditorium

From a balcony seat.

Last week things went silent here at TMI as I was in Peoria, IL most of the week doing bridesmaid duties at my college roommate's wedding. It was an intense weekend capped off by a quick flight home Sunday and a trip to the Ryman Auditorium that night to catch Dawes. 

The show was great for a couple reasons. For one, this was my third Dawes show this year and it was definitely the best. They seemed genuinely happy and appreciative of the significance of playing the Ryman. It's holy ground. The vibes were just so good and the audience was particularly vocal. They were basically hitting on the band the entire night. It was great. The other reason it was a memorable night is that it was my Dad's first Ryman concert. I thought it was a good match with Dawes' Ryman debut. Plus, it's a band that we both can agree on.

Dawes played about 19 songs. You can check out a Spotify playlist the Ryman made here. They mostly performed tracks from Stories Don't End and Nothing is Wrong, throwing in "When My Time Comes" and "That Western Skyline," which they used to close out the show because it's the first track from their first album North Hills. They played pretty much everything I wanted to hear: "From a Window Seat," "Most People," Time Spent in Los Angeles," "Peace in the Valley" etc. "Something in Common" was particularly nice. They put a little echo on Taylor Goldsmith's vocals and tamed the arrangement on the verses, making the song even more desolate and heartbreaking than usual. Dawes also performed "Moon in the Water," which they said they don't normally trot out because it's a quieter song that needs an audience responsive to the song's tone.

Midway through, Goldsmith brought out Jonny Fritz (formerly Corndawg) to sing "Goodbye Summer" off his recent album Dad Country, which Dawes played on. Fritz is something of an odd and interesting figure in these parts, so it was fun to actually see him sing live. He was wonderfully quirky and sort of scooted/shuffled around the stage and off it when the song ended.

Another quick point– opening act Shovels and Rope is worth your attention.

So, that was that. I'll stop here before I start to gush. Dawes remains one of my favorite bands to see live, if not my favorite. From the first few notes of opening song "From Window Seat," I marveled how strong they are as a band, even though it's a fact I know well.

Catch a show if you can.

Death Cab for Cutie Returns to the Ryman

By Erin Carson | Created with cinemagr.am

When Ben Gibbard took the stage of the Ryman Auditorium and immediately launched into "I Will Follow You Into the Dark," we knew to expect a different kind of Death Cab for Cutie show. Gibbard played the popular song, which typically surfaces late-show in acoustic form, without his bandmates and without most of its usual moodiness. The performance set the tone for a concert that, while pulling songs from all their albums, leaned mostly on older tunes and deeper cuts, with a very light smattering of the year-old Codes and Keys.

For anyone who caught Death Cab's 2009 Ryman appearance, last night's show felt like a completion. Instead of go-tos like "The Sound of Settling" or an epic rendition of "Transatlanticism," we got "Technicolor Girls," "Amputations," and "Lowell, MA." That's not to say the band ignored favorites– nothing sounded as sweet as the entire Ryman erupting in "ba da"'s for "Soul Meets Body," but the show had a different type of depth to it.

And Death Cab pulled off that deep cut-heavy set list thanks in part to an unusually warm and responsive Nashville crowd. When the band turned "We Looked like Giants" into the extended, momentous, tightly-played masterpiece of the night, the crowd stayed with them every second, and even threatened to out sing Gibbard on songs like "Marching Bands of Manhattan."

It felt good to be at the Ryman last night. When Death Cab took finals bows, there was a rare sincerity between them and the audience. If they were happy to be there, the crowd was happy to have them.