Show Reviews
may 18th, 2010. the swellers, crime in stereo, this time next year, and hawkboy. rocketown. nashville, tennessee.
Review by: Michael Jackson email facebook
hawkboy setlist. ???. ???. ???. pirate blues [as cities burn cover].
this time next year setlist. alex in wonderland. liquid diet. new florence. rise & fall, curtain call. new sensation. sweetest air. silver springs. no bed of broken glass. cheers to a late night.
crime in stereo setlist. xxxx (the first thousand years of solitude). not dead. …but you are vast. animal pharm. type one. i cannot answer you tonight. i am everything i am not. small skeletal. drugwolf. i, stateside.
the swellers setlist. vehicle city. welcome back riders. sleeper. ups and downsizing. bottles. do you feel better yet?. feet first. dirt. 2009. fire away.
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crime in stereo and the swellers found their way to nashville, tennessee’s rocketown music venue on the fifth night of their twelve-date co-headlining tour, bringing along tourmates this time next year and the recently-formed hawkboy. i arrived at the venue early (i’d been waiting to see the swellers ever since they played at rocketown’s previous location last november), which meant two things — one, i was amongst the first few inside of the building. and two? the only other people in the building were the staff, the bands, and hayley williams. so essentially, i wound up spending the first thirty minutes hanging out with the swellers and hayley williams. (and by “hanging out,” i do mean leaning against the front desk talking to michael cheng whilst they all hung out a few feet away at the merch area… but i digress!)
opening the night shortly after 7:00pm were hawkboy — the brand new project from cody bonnette & aaron lunsford of the recently-disbanded as cities burn. bonnette (vocals/guitar) & lunsford (drums) played a brief fifteen-minute set, which consisted of — to my knowledge — three originals and a closing cover of their former band’s “pirate blues.” unfortunately, i never got around to checking out as cities burn, so i’m not in the position to compare; i have read, however, that the band progressed from a screaming-vocals/post-hardcore sound into a clean-vocals/indie rock sound, and bonnette/lunsford appear to be staying true to that as they move forward with hawkboy. an impressive showing for their one-off appearance on the tour (they currently reside in nashville), and i look forward to hearing more from them as time progresses.
“we want to be five genuine kids who play good pop-punk. that’s all we’ve ever wanted to be,” is the calling card of walnut creek, california’s this time next year, whose nine-song set proved to be exactly that: good pop-punk. despite a relatively small crowd, the five-piece certainly didn’t lack energy, packing a punch with their thirty-minute set fit for a new found glory-sized turnout. (or the movielife, from whom the band’s name is derived.) frontman pete dowdalls bounced vocals with guitarist brad wiseman, as the band — including guitarist denis cohen, bassist tony allio, and drummer robbie coran — played through a majority of their 2009 equal vision debut full-length, road maps and heart attacks, as well as a couple of throwbacks (“sweetest air” and “silver springs,” each from 2007’s self-released a place for you). this time next year don’t quite deliver anything the genre has yet to see, but the set was nonetheless a solid collection of good pop-punk songs.
i was unfamiliar with the work of crime in stereo until the announcement that they’d be co-headlining this tour; i spent the weeks ahead digging into their two latest full-lengths, i was trying to describe you to someone and is dead. and come to find out… crime in stereo is incredible. “incredible,” as in: if this is the new face of hardcore, i’m in. all the way. so it was no surprise that by the time they took the stage, the crowd had nearly tripled — and rightfully so. the long island, new york quintet delivered their unique brand of progressive, punk-infused post-hardcore with an amazing ten-song set, comprised of songs from 2010’s i was trying to describe you to someone and 2007’s is dead, as well as a set-closer reaching back to 2006’s the troubled stateside (“i, stateside”). their music is unpredictable, riding up & down feverishly, but all of the twists & turns ultimately come together for a cohesive, raw, and impassioned live performance. fronted by the rugged vocals of kristian hallbert. alex dunne (vocals/guitar), eric kuster (guitar), gary cioni (bass), and scotty giffin (drums) round out the bridge nine five-piece, who wrapped up their set at the thirty-four minute mark. i looked over crime in stereo for years; take my advice, and take a listen while you can. get ahold of i was trying to describe you to someone, get ahold of is dead, and perhaps more important that anything, get to a live performace. absolutely incredible.
and finally! after six long months, it was the nashville return of the best band in punk today — the swellers. the crowd had dwindled down after coming to see crime in stereo (such a complete shame), but the swellers — having spent recent months on much larger tours with the likes of motion city soundtrack and labelmates paramore — still played to the remaining few like it was their last show ever. banter was kept to a minimum, and the band packed as much as they could into their thirty-five minute set. the flint, michigan four-piece — brothers nick (lead vocals/guitar) & jonathan (backing vocals/drums) diener, ryan collins (guitar), and anto “the hitman” boros (bass) — pulled out a surprise immediately with opener “vehicle city,” a personal favorite of mine from 2007’s my everest. a trio of songs from 2009’s ups and downsizing — “welcome back riders” (the song that introduced me to the band), “sleeper” and its title track, “ups and downsizing” — followed, before the band checked back to 2007 with live staple “bottles.” “do you feel better yet?” preceded the epic “feet first,” whose anti-suicide sentiments were capped off with the equally-epic “whoa oh oh, whoa!” outro. “dirt,” the excellent “2009” (i’d been waiting forever to scream “this is my holiday!”), and “fire away” closed out the ten-song set. and i’m pretty sure i’ve never shouted along that much at a concert. “cathartic” would be the word here. i said it once, i’ll say it again: the swellers are the best band in punk today, and that set proved why. i waited six months for those thirty-five minutes, and i couldn’t have been more stoked on what i got out of them.
pick up the swellers’ ups and downsizing, their 2009 debut for fueled by ramen; top-to-bottom, one of my favorite albums ever, and easily one of the best of last year. do the same for 2007’s my everest, as well as 2005’s beginning of the end again (which i finally got ahold of at the show). and somebody find me a physical copy of end of discussion!
april 30th, 2010. pujol, stan vs. wild, apathyedge, average age statue, the man in the moon, and debi burnett & the agape band. rocketown. nashville, tennessee.
Review by: Michael Jackson email facebook
debi burnett & the agape band setlist. you won’t relent [misty edwards cover]. give me your eyes [brandon heath cover]. by your side [tenth avenue north cover]. revelation song [phillips, craig & dean cover].
the man in the moon setlist. intro: we had voices. arrival on a higher plane (outta body). hit single. no party (new best friend). song for alexa. soil, soil. asleep in the field. postcards [an horse cover]. the deepest dream.
average age statue setlist. house of sisters. she was dancing for no other reason than to move. my wandering boy. electric zoos.
apathyedge setlist. the chance. damned if i do ya (damned if i don’t) [all time low cover]. crazy. tell me something. catch me if you can. home sweet home.
stan vs. wild setlist. take a deep breath. jack be nimble. sweet nightmares. bullfrogs. light years.
pujol setlist. black rabbit. endless mike. deathmask. mission from god. point of view. butterfly knife. too safe.
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as i’m writing this, the sixth avenue location of rocketown is offically no more. dead. gone. history. torn down earlier this afternoon, making way for the forthcoming nashville convention center. a “screw the convention center!” would be appropriate here, but the initial shock has worn off, leaving me intrigued about the whole rocketown situation.
and, hey. come to find out… rocketown is still rocketown. even at a new building. april thirtieth proved such, as the brand new level one opened its doors on fifth avenue (one street down from its previous location) for a genre-clashing showcase of local nashville talent.
the building’s first performance came from none other than rocketown staffer (& quite possibly the nicest woman alive) debi burnett (http://www.myspace.com/debiburnettmusic), whose five-member agape band joined her for a set of contemporary christian covers. selecting songs to represent “the mission statement of rocketown,” the band’s opening set consisted of four solid covers, including a closer number of “revelation song.”
my good friend michael cheng took to the stage next, playing under the moniker the man in the moon (http://www.myspace.com/themaninthemoonmusic). consider me a bit biased, but cheng killed it; i’d waited nearly a year for my second man in the moon set, and the wait was well worth it. his hiding in the dark ep was represented with “arrival on a higher plane (outta body),” “asleep in the field,” and the ever-popular “no party (new best friend),” and even the explosions and experiments ep saw the light of day, with set-closer “the deepest dream.” the recently-released “hit single” found its way into the set earlier on, as well as a cover of an horse’s “postcards;” but standing out amongst the crowd was “song for alexa,” cheng’s ode to alexa zöe sullivant, which saw cheng invite sullivant onstage for the greatest serenade i’ve ever seen in my life. jake davis would be proud.
average age statue (http://www.myspace.com/averageagestatue) followed with their second rocketown performance — plugged in this time around, as opposed to their debut at rocketown unplugged three. their four-song, half-hour set kicked off with live staples “house of sisters” and “she was dancing for no other reason than to move,” before the ten-minute epic “my wandering boy” took over. and by the time “electric zoos” had closed out the set, average age statue had impressed both the audience (marking the first known average age mosh pit) and the venue’s staff (and i quote, via twitter: “first time actually listening to @aastatue. wow.”) the band’s best performance to date? it’d be hard to argue.
electronic/power-pop outfit apathyedge (http://www.myspace.com/apathyedge) graced the stage at 8:00pm, off-brand-juices in tow. the six-song set included a cover of all time low’s “damned if i do ya (damned if i don’t),” in addition to five original cuts. highlight of the performance? the inclusion of an old-school gameboy in set-closer “home sweet home.” heyoooooo!
stan vs. wild (http://www.myspace.com/stanvswild) caught my attention before the show with their merch (handmade tie-dye shirts!), but it was their live performance that sealed the deal. frontman tom markham’s vocals struck me as strangely intriguing, but it’s the musicianship — of guitarist markham, guitarist ford garrard, bassist carter callaway, and drummer john wyse — that carries the weight of stan vs. wild. “take a deep breath,” “jack be nimble,” “sweet nightmares,” and “light years” each delivered, with personal favorite “bullfrogs” standing out, resulting in a considerably impressive half-hour set.
and who more fitting than pujol (http://www.myspace.com/danielluccapujol) to headline? despite forgotten instruments & technical difficulties, the band (& the art of hula hooping!) prevailed, closing out the evening with seven down-in-the-dirt originals. vocalist/guitarist daniel pujol, guitarist sean thompson, bassist joey scala, and drummer greg meredith opened with “black rabbit,” and spent the next half-hour proving that — despite living in the age of computerized, digitalized, unnaturalized music — the spirit of straight up rock and roll is still very much alive, with cuts like “deathmask,” “mission from god,” “butterfly knife,” and set-closer “too safe.”
the nashville convention center could force rocketown into a cardboard box underneath a bridge, for all i care.* despite a digging claw tearing through the past seven years and leaving them in a pile of debris on sixth avenue, nights like this are proof that the venue’s future is as promising as ever. because regardless of location, rocketown will still be rocketown.
* a cardboard box would be cool and all. but to find out exactly what rocketown has in store, including its temporary/permanent locations, visit http://www.rocketown.com.
march 18th, 2010. the rocket summer, parachute musical, have you heard, and half priced hearts. rocketown. nashville, tennessee.
Review by: Michael Jackson email facebook
half priced hearts setlist. taking on the world. always be. sunrise. hollywood disco. us tonight.
have you heard setlist. answers. where you want me. something different. breathe in. your reputation’s safe. never gonna let you go. you’ve got me singing (whoa oh).
parachute musical setlist. hometown. no comfort. leave me. drop me a line. on the ground. here the whole time. one more song. stubborn young manhood.
the rocket summer setlist. hills & valleys. do you feel. save. blackbird [the beatles cover]. break it out. brat pack. maps [yeah yeah yeahs cover]. roses. i need a break… but i’d rather have a breakthrough. walls. cross my heart. so, in this hour…. [encore:] never knew —> around the clock —> the fight [medley]. so much love. light.
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people show up for the rocket summer. ask katy mcknight, who drove four hours south for the band’s headlining show at rocketown (http://www.rocketown.com); ask marshall & madi dickard, who were in town from texas for the show; heck, ask relient k’s matt thiessen, who was spotted at the nashville venue for the evening’s performance. even on short notice (two weeks, at the most), rocketown’s level one found itself packed; and on a night where the audience was brought together under the banner of the headliner’s optimistic pop rock, rocketown delivered not only the rocket summer, but also a line-up bound to leave those in attendance with at least one new favorite band.
things started to look good as nashville’s half priced hearts (http://www.myspace.com/halfpricedhearts) took to the stage at 7:04pm. going into the show, half priced hearts were a wildcard for me; the selection of tracks available through their lollipop-endorsing myspace hadn’t necessarily jumped out at me beforehand. live settings tend to change perspective, however, as the band — vocalist bobby banister, guitarists teddy cheek & d.j. adkins, bassist mike geiger, and drummer jason weidman — won me over with their seventeen-minute, five-song set. the five-piece pop rock outfit were admittedly brought together through a mutual admiration of (the now-defunct) metro station’s breakthrough “shake it,” but don’t let that fool you; half priced hearts are worth checking out. need proof? look no further than their form of self-promotion: distributing — you guessed it — paper hearts, each featuring free downloads. touche, half priced hearts. touche.
a lot has changed for have you heard (http://www.myspace.com/haveyouheard) since i was first introduced to them late last year. after an impressive showing in november opening for the swellers, the past four months have seen an unfortunate situation dissolve the band down to frontman jeff moore & guitarist matt jaikaran. fortunately, the remaining members were able to enlist temporary replacements — guitarist trevor hinesly, bassist david jahns, and drummer aaron thomas — to join them for the night’s set. and while changes have taken place in the ranks of have you heard, one thing hasn’t changed — their impressive live performances. their twenty-seven minute set of pop punk was as enjoyable as ever, from the familiar “answers” to the acoustic leanings of “never gonna let you go.” ”you’ve got me singing (whoa oh),” the infectious standout track from 2008’s we do this by ourselves e.p., closed the set — a set that confirmed one thing: regardless of what’s been thrown at them, have you heard are just getting started.
point blank, parachute musical (http://www.myspace.com/parachutemusical) rule. my friend megan mccann was informed of this multiple times leading up to their set; as was everyone else within the distance of my voice. and certainly not to my surprise, parachute musical lived up to hype. joined by guitarist tom gilbert (celebrating his twenty-sixth birthday), bassist andrew samples, and drummer ben jacoby, vocalist/pianist josh foster kicked off paramusical’s set with a perfect pick-up-the-pace opener in “hometown.” “no comfort” and “drop me a line,” both from january’s no comfort single, followed, as well as more recent songs such as “here the whole time” and set-closer ”stubborn young manhood” (inspired by, as quoted by foster, a family member’s recent request to step away from a career in music). personal set highlights each came from the absolutely brilliant 2008 full-length everything is working out fine in some town. “leave me,” “on the ground,” and “one more song” were, as usual, a joy to experience live; specifically the latter, which provided nothing short of a cathartic experience with its closing lines. by the time they left the stage, parachute musical — with their trademark red/blue/green/yellow color coordination & accompanying christmas lights — had taken eight songs, and, in twenty-eight minutes, made a fan out of every single person in attendance. do yourself a favor… head over to parachute musical’s myspace. see for yourself what the hype is about. and you can thank me later.
a man who needs no hype is the rocket summer’s (http://www.myspace.com/therocketsummer) bryce avary, who made his way to the stage at 9:20pm. joined by touring members seth brewton (guitar), nick aranda (bass), and justin leu (drums), avary found himself behind the keys for the leadoff “hills & valleys,” the first of a handful of cuts from his of men and angels full-length. since its february release, the rocket summer have found themselves on the road as the support for onerepublic; the nashville show was actually their first headlining performance since the initial hometown release show in dallas, texas. the fan-favorite “do you feel,” from 2007’s full-length of the same name, followed, as well as another do you feel favorite in “save.” three songs in, things got even more interesting; technical difficulties seemed to stop the show for a moment, but avary, ever the optimist, made the most of the situation. taking advantage of the night’s intimate setting, avary grabbed an acoustic guitar and, straying away from the printed setlist, surprised us with a beautiful cover of the beatles’ “blackbird.” this impromptu vibe was carried throughout the rest of the rocket summer’s one-hour-and-eighteen-minute set, as avary exemplified with the next song. finding himself behind the drum kit, avary pounded out an extended introduction to “break it out,” proceeding to do the very same in the form of a keyboard introduction, a bass introduction, and, finally, a guitar introduction, before the full band joined in what was a personal highlight of the set. (another highlight: avary transitioned from keyboard-to-bass via moonwalk.) not to be outdone by themselves, the band took it back to 2005’s hello, good friend with a rendition of “brat pack,” which had nearly the entire audience singing along in honor of avary’s humble beginnings. (speaking of singing along… i did catch avary’s wife, tara, singing along with her husband whilst working the merch booth.) with the crowd fired up after the throwback, avary disappeared… only to be discovered amidst the crowd, with nothing more than a spotlight & an acoustic, for a cover of yeah yeah yeah’s “maps.” unlike his initial transition to the middle of the room, his return to the stage was a bit more fan-oriented: in a rocketown first, the “no crowdsurfing” rule was overlooked, as the audience assisted avary in making his way back to the stage. the rest of the rocket summer’s set focused heavily on of men and angels, with “roses,” “i need a break… but i’d rather have a breakthrough,” and “walls” each finding their way into the show. (“you gotta believe” was originally scheduled, but the technical difficulties pushed it aside.) 2003’s calendar days was represented through “cross my heart,” and “so, in this hour…” brought the band’s set to an end.
an encore brought back avary, mentioning that the intimate feel of the show was bringing back a bit of a nostalgic feeling; he answered with short piano medleys of “never knew” and “around the clock” from calendar days, and, taking requests, performed a bit of “the fight,” from 2009’s you gotta believe e.p. (“run to you” was also requested, though avary, after attempting it, admitted to not remembering it at the time). “so much love” and “light” called the night to a close — a night also featuring the expected use of confetti, a moment which puts the rocket summer’s live shows into perspective. they’re a celebration, really… of music, of life, of taking what you’ve got and making the most of it. avary & company exemplified that, and the crowd responded accordingly so.
it was a feel-good night at rocketown. what else would you expect from the rocket summer?
march 12th, 2010. a.f.i., the loved ones, and scarlet grey. rocketown. nashville, tennessee.
Review by: Michael Jackson email facebook
scarlet grey setlist. business colors. violent like vanilla. fancy blood. a pirate’s song. mr. sinister. no boys in the ballroom.
the loved ones setlist. chicken. the inquirer. suture yourself. the bridge. breathe in. pretty good year. distracted. jane. i don’t want to die (in the hospital) [conor oberst cover]. 100k. louisiana.
a.f.i. setlist. medicate. girl’s not grey. the leaving song, pt. ii. i am trying very hard to be here. kill caustic. end transmission. ever and a day. love is a many splendored thing. beautiful thieves. dancing through sunday. okay, i feel better now. on the arrow. death of seasons. miss murder. [encore:] the interview. love like winter. silver and cold.
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my sister, lacey, is a pretty cool sister. case in point: seven years ago, whilst riding in the passenger’s seat of her car, she introduced me to an album called sing the sorrow. the band was a fire inside (though you likely know them by the name of “a.f.i.”), and over the next several years, i grew quite fond of the four-piece from ukiah, california. this fondness grew with the discovery of a.f.i.’s music video for “silver and cold” (which was being played, at the time, by fuse; remember when fuse was cool?), but it has always traced back to the first time i heard “the leaving song, pt. ii” in the front seat of my sister’s green chevrolet cavalier.
fast forward seven years. seven years after my introduction to a.f.i., and six years since lacey last saw them perform at rocketown. she’s since moved on; but when a.f.i. announced a small seven-date tour that kicked off with their nashville return to rocketown, i found it absolutely necessary to catch them live before it was too late. and thanks to michael cheng (http://www.myspace.com/themaninthemoonmusic), my first a.f.i. live experience was made possible.
march twelfth, two-thousand-and-ten.
scarlet grey (http://www.myspace.com/scarletgrey) frontman benjamin grey admitted to being an original member of a.f.i.’s despair faction fan club during its inception… and it showed. the california five-piece — grey, guitarist cole martin, bassist pete emperador, drummer keith cooper, and keyboardist alix andrévitch — opened the night with a six-song set eerily reminiscent of the show’s headliners. far from cheap imitation, however, were scarlet grey, who won the crowd over with originals such as “violent like vanilla,” “mr. sinister,” the robert confresí-name-dropping “a pirate’s song,” and the recently cut “fancy blood.” the infectious “no boys in the ballroom” closed out the band’s set — a dream set, you would imagine, for a group who openly idolize the headlining band who brought them out on tour.
fat wreck chords artists the loved ones (http://www.myspace.com/thelovedones) picked up where scarlet grey left off, delivering a loose, rough-around-the-edges set of philadelphia punk rock, much in the vein of contemporaries the gaslight anthem. frontman dave hause — celebrating his thirty-second birthday — did little to comply with the openly faith-based venue’s rules & regulations, spending the first few minutes fighting against an employee’s request to remove a bottle of wine from the stage, and the latter minutes rallying against everything from organized religion to the venue’s food at the empyrean coffee bar. (sorry, dave, but you’re wrong on that one.) controversy aside, the loved ones — hause, guitarist dave walsh, drummer mike sneeringer, and bassist andy nelson (of paint it black; filling in for chris gonzalez) — put on a solid set, one involving much crowd interaction (“homie, don’t play that game!” “there is no after party, shut up!” and, of all things, mid-set mating calls), the breakout of a few mosh pits, and, above all else, eleven highly enjoyable songs. “chicken,” the band’s earliest work, set things off; ten songs followed, ranging from 2006’s keep your heart (“suture self,” the excellent “breathe in,” “jane,” and “100k”) to 2008’s build & burn (“pretty good year,” “the inquierer,” “the bridge,” and set-closer ”louisiana”) to 2009’s distractons e.p. (“distracted”). perhaps the highlight of the set, however, was an impassioned cover of conor oberst’s “i don’t want to die (in the hospital).” highly opinionated or not, dave house celebrated his thirty-second birthday by leading the loved ones through a solid set of punk rock. argue with his tactics, but you can’t argue that the loved ones delivered.
(or “the lovely ones.” whichever.)
following a heart-like pulse of red lights & the opening notes of lead single “medicate,” frontman davey havok stormed across the rocketown stage for the first time since february of two-thousand-and-four. long gone are the days of “prelude 12/21” and “miseria cantare: the beginning” kicking off a.f.i. (http://www.myspace.com/afi) sets; yet, although i’ve spent years wishing to experience “miseria cantare: the beginning” live, “medicate” serves as a perfect indicator of where the rest of an a.f.i. live performance is going to lead. sans a few slower-paced moments, a.f.i. — havok, guitarist jade puget, bassist hunter burgan, and drummer adam carson — charged through a set of seventeen songs, all the while havok held the nashville audience in the palm of his hand. (specifically the despair faction, who were all front-and-center, and davey havok 2.0 — search hard enough and you’ll see what i mean). although 2010 a.f.i. is a far cry from their 1991 beginnings, the band’s in-your-face live attitude is very much the same. classic tracks such as “love is many a splendored thing” (from 1994’s eddie picnic’s all wet e.p.) exemplified such, and, coupled with ”ever and a day” (from 2000’s the art of drowning), served as old-school-approved flashbacks to their humble beginnings. the core of the band’s set, however, was built upon their three major label releases — 2003’s sing the sorrow, 2006’s decemberunderground, and their latest, 2009’s crash love. the aforementioned “medicate,” “i am trying very hard to be here,” “end transmission,” “okay, i feel better now,” and new single “beautiful thieves” each did crash love justice (with the mood, again, set by the stage’s golden decor — from carson’s drumset to the lighting to the three flashing platforms, making their united states debut, used by havok/puget/burgan), as did “kill caustic,” “miss murder,” “the interview,” “love like winter,” and b-side “on the arrow” for decemberunderground. ultimately, i have a strong bias for sing the sorrow (which i hold as their best effort to date), and its representation throughout the night left me one satisfied dude. “girl’s not grey,” “the leaving song, pt. ii,” “dancing through sunday,” and “death of seasons” were each a pleasure to experience live. and coming full circle was the final song of the evening, the third of the band’s encore: “silver and cold.” needless to say, it did my eleven-year-old self proud.
the whole night did, looking back. taking into consideration that it was seven years in the making. and the best part of it all? i spent the entire show hanging out with a fifty-something-year-old mom in the front row of the balcony. punk. rock.
Rocketown’s Raucous Ruckus, 2/27/10
Erin Manning, The Deli Nashville, http://nashville.thedelimagazine.com/
If anyone was in the mood to do something a little out of the norm on Saturday afternoon, their best option was probably the Seventh Anniversary Party at Rocketown. Not only did this event feature 28 bands of varying origins and genres, but it also offered a dodgeball tournament, and free pizza. (Or at least it seemed like the right thing to do to just take some pizza). Bearing in mind that the main focus of Rocketown is functioning as a regional youth outreach, it could only be assumed that the audience was going to be a younger one. And indeed, it was. One would have thought that the Jonas Brothers were playing at the Sommet Center, what with the hundreds—more like thousands—of kids and teens, teeming through the streets of downtown. But the throngs were formed by skaters, gutter punks, metal fans, and all-around music lovers, (and let’s just say there wasn’t a single pair of wide-leg or flare jeans spotted in a 3 mile radius of Rocketown), so a Disney artist was out of the question.
The celebration was definitely a cultural eye-opener, especially for a 20-something that doesn’t know much about teens, skateboarding, or Nashville’s metal community. All of the kids were dressed way cooler than the kids most of us remember from our middle/high school days, and they also seemed unusually comfortable around violent dancing/moshing/diving, and listening to music that they weren’t familiar with, or that wasn’t necessarily the “cool” thing to be listening to. (Let’s be honest—these kids are going to make up the Infinity Cat crowd when they graduate from high school, so going to this party was merely preparation for the future). What stood out the most about the Rocketown youths was the overall sense of support and excitement for the music. It was extremely refreshing to see passionate musicians being rewarded for their efforts for once, by audience participation, and a mutual artist/audience attitude of appreciation, interest, and camaraderie. At a typical Nashville indie rock show at an 18+ or 21+ venue, it’s uncommon to see friends and fans that are dedicated enough to do things like carry around large signs for hours, advertising upcoming sets from their favorite bands, and actually have fun and enjoy what they’re doing. If only the older show-goers would follow the example of Saturday’s crowd, and play the part of the open-minded, fanatical, supportive music fan. (Perhaps Nashville local musicians would actually make some money playing shows). This was one of the more appealing things about the day, because who doesn’t appreciate kids being able to hang out in a healthy, safe environment, and enjoy quality music?
