Exit/In, Nashville 7/5

[Captain CoryCory]

So my personal little Melvins trilogy begins. In the midst of people spending hundreds to see some Dead Phish in Chicago or on July 4th spend hundreds to see The Rolling Stones kick ass like they've done since 65.000.000 B.C. i'm spending a couple hundred to see one of my favorite bands three times over three nights. Getting to Nashville wasn't too bad though some parking paranoia got me early on, leaving me to have the best goddamned Yuengling's since the last time I had Yuengling's. The merch booth had a handful of rare singles and plenty of Walsby goodies but I'm saving myself for the Ballroom show.

At around 9PM Le Butcherettes took the stage to a slowly growing crowd, adorned entirely in red and going right into "Burn the Scab". Charismatic is the word here and personally if you want to call this garage rock in any way Teri Gender Bender by herself has more charisma than 90% of the Burger Records roster! Holy shit, this was GOOD. The songs were simplistic from a technical standpoint but extremely engaging topped off by Teri's constant movements and sporadic mannerisms throughout. Watching her explode into a falsetto in-between verses on "The Devil Lived" was a thrill. It's clear they're having a blast every step of the way. As far as openers for the Melvins and Buzzo they're the best one I've seen hands down and I've seen Weedeater on numerous occasions.

At some point in Nashville I got to do something I've never done in my entire life: Meet someone from a forum! That was something different and actually really cool. LuckMach3 and Hemispheres were both really cool dudes to chat with as Void Manes set up to the right of the Melvins' stage setup for the last date of him joining in for the tour. His set was a wall of electronic noise that eventually formulated into abstract rhythms. The sounds he made resembled a Sega Genesis soundtrack with the bass pumped WAY the fuck up. As someone who's pretty tolerant to experimental music I enjoyed this a lot, mainly for the key point that he built up to something if your ears could catch it. Considering it was a massive experiment going to 10:15 it essentially served as a 20-minute intro to...

Melvins. From the first hammering notes of Hag Me being a slow wall of heavy from "BLOWN" amps among a completely sold-out crowd. Jeff Pinkus definitely has a presence all his own for sure with a slick Electrical Guitar Company take on the Flying V bass. His tone was sick to say the least and his vocals fit in just fine with Buzzo's bark that had bite. It took me a bit to recognize the Water Glass and I don't think they did Captain Comedown but I was fine with that as the opening bits of the set were a scorcher. The covers in question all really fit with the sludgy gloom of "Graveyard", the punky bizarreness of "Stop" and the bluesy dadaism of "Moving to Florida". Crover went shirtless, nip rings adorned through the heat as the drum legend absolutely tore it the fuck up through speedier numbers like "Sweet Willy Rollbar" and "It's Shoved". Though I was personally remiss that they weren't doing "Hooch" live but there's a couple songs I haven't heard that more than made up for it.

I need some clarification here... Are they doing the full song of "We Are Doomed" live as they didn't here. Only the intro with Dale going absolutely apeshit on the drums and just when the song settles down instead it exploded into "Youth of America", which left me in a frenzy and a ton of people singing along. Hearing their take on the Wipers epic was beautiful to say the least, even with Buzzo doing the eerie guitar rhythms spot-on by himself before Dale went into Dale-mode. "The Bit" followed and that of course was a banger as well and a solid transition to staples I have heard live in "Your Blessened" and "Night Goat". In closing, Teri Gender Bender joined them for "Fascists Eat Donuts" and "Rebel Girl", the latter leaving a good chunk of the crowd singing along and the girls squealing. We'd have moshed if we could've moved. Melvins' set was utterly relentless and I'm only curious to see if it goes the same way now that there's just two bands the next two nights!

The night drive back to Louisville was the opposite of what I expected, being soaked in adrenaline and joy as I drove through an endless sea of fog and trees, at one point the road splitting and myself taking a solitary left lane. It was almost like a shift into a void of haze and speed. I only felt the comedown once I made it back to Louisville at a gas station at 3 in the morning but the memory of the show itself very fresh in my head and a satisfactory one too. That said my first-ever live show to witness in Nashville was a great time. Really cool to meet some boardies too!

[Rusty Shackleford]

Another top notch review. 

[anaconda]

Feel like I was there after reading that! Great details!

[glen]

Feel like I was there after reading that! Great details!

Feel like I was there AND ON MUSHROOMS after reading that!     

[hemispheres]

Very fucking cool!

[jules]

Feel like I was there after reading that! Great details!

Feel like I was there AND ON MUSHROOMS after reading that! 

Feel like I was there and on mushrooms and being rogered by twins while someone feeds me ice cream after that!

[bUTTHOLEmAN]

Feel like I was there after reading that! Great details!

Feel like I was there AND ON MUSHROOMS after reading that! 

Feel like I was there and on mushrooms and being rogered by twins while someone feeds me ice cream after that!

  What in the world is 'rogering'?!?

  Is it this?


Good review.

[jules]

Feel like I was there after reading that! Great details!

Feel like I was there AND ON MUSHROOMS after reading that! 

Feel like I was there and on mushrooms and being rogered by twins while someone feeds me ice cream after that!

  What in the world is 'rogering'?!?

  Is it this?


Good review.

In a sense, yes.

mid 16th century: from the given name Roger . The verb (dating from the early 18th century) is from an obsolete noun sense 'penis'.

There was a young maid from Cape Cod
Who thought that babies came from God.
But it wasn't the Almighty
That lifted her nightie,
It was Roger the lodger, the sod!

[anaconda]

you forgot to mention Roger's todger! 

[hemispheres]

Oh and I met Teri Gender Bender after the show! Fucking cool lady

[black stallion]

Crover went shirtless, nip rings adorned through the heat as the drum legend absolutely tore it the fuck up through speedier numbers like "Sweet Willy Rollbar" and "It's Shoved".

thanks!

[LuckMach3]

Yea man it was cool meeting you!  In retrospect I was kind of drunk and excited about the Melvins so I was probably rambling like an idiot.   

I'd add that the security was really tight at the Exit/In venue.  I felt like the bouncers were constantly staring everyone down and were looking for any excuse they could get to throw people out.  A small mosh pit broke out during Youth of America and security quickly put a stop to it.

There's a fine line between high energy shows and idiots moshing.  I love high energy shows and I often feel like something is lost if people are forced to stand still the entire time.  I got this weird "no fun allowed" vibe from the Exit/In.  It was fine for one show but I prefer the high energy shows I've seen in Atlanta and Athens GA.

[Goat of the Night]

I saw them in Dallas (even though I live in Nashville) but I was out of town while they were here. But Butcherettes over Weedeater? Idk..