Old 97’s (The Two Night Stand): July 8 & 9 2011 - Mercy Lounge - Nashville, TN
I’ll start this by stating that I’ve seen Old 97’s (including Rhett Miller solo) more than any other band. I didn’t realize it until I started counting them down when deciding to do one or both nights that they played this past weekend in Nashville. I did decide to catch both shows for the following reason: sometimes great, sometimes awful. For a band that has been playing together for so long it is hard to understand why they are sometimes spot on and other times play like drunken teenagers. In the liner notes to ‘Alive and Wired’ (live album) Rhett admittedly noted loving how they never practice - so I guess that explains it!
But as for the shows and my decision, I definitely made the right choice. Night one was sloppy and frantic. Rhett was visibly ‘buzzed’ and the band struggled for the first 5 songs to get a rhythm. There were missed chords, botched endings, and forgotten lyrics. I’ve seen this before so I wasn’t entirely surprised. It wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t pretty…. Luckily only John and I went to this show. Not for the uninitiated.
Night two was a complete 180. The band was lucid, energetic, and solid throughout. The show was just as upbeat as night one but with a much more diverse set. Night two, while still not having much of the new album (even when it was released mere days before), contained tracks from pretty much every release. I think my highlight was ‘Roller Skate Skinny’ (but still no ‘Nineteen’ - I think I’ll never hear this song live in person at this rate). Barb and Sara joined us and I think also had a great time or at least had a great time watching me ‘geek’ out!
Those Darlin’s opened and I was much more enthusiastic during their Saturday set as well. I’m not in love with their stuff but appreciated it significantly on night two.
Overall, it was two good nights of music with the second night eclipsing the first.
‘We can knock nine down and leave one in the hole!’
