Nashville
So I finally wrote my full recap from the Ours show in Nashville. I had a BLAST writing it, so I hope you enjoy reading it. I have not written my full recap from my entire trip yet, but that will come. Eventually. I just felt the need to document the Nashville experience because it was just epic.
We arrived in Nashville around 4:30 and checked into the hotel - and holy shit it was gorgeous. Trista arrived shortly thereafter and we pre-gamed a little while getting ready, before heading out to get some dinner at this great little pub - and it bears mentioning that I was in a tank top sitting outside eating dinner. In December. Can’t do that in New England. It’s at dinner Erin realizes that she doesn’t have her camera battery so after a quick stop at the hotel to pick it up (it was on the way anyway), she and I headed to the venue. We’re on the street the venue is on (12th I think?) and Matt from PJA walks right by us! We say hey and continue walking, as he’s walking in the opposite direction. We check in before the doors open and go back outside to wait for Robin and Trista to arrive, as Robin had forgotten her camera at the restaurant. While we’re sitting outside, Matt comes back, we say hey again, and he asks if we’re drunk. Um, not yet Matt.
The doors open and while there’s still no sign of Robin and Trista, Erin and I head inside anyway to snag a good spot by the stage. 12th and Porter is probably one of the more unique venues I have been to - there is a 2nd level as well as the floor, and the sound was great. The show began with a local guy (I can’t remember his name) and he was ok, but not really my thing. He did play with Kenny from Kid Rock though, and that was pretty cool. He goes off and the second local band comes on - and while their music again wasn’t my thing, they were alright. I will say though, that I am most impressed by how Ours fans treat opening bands, even if they’re not that great - they are not rude to them, but accept them and politely applaud. Which is much better then being rude. So the second opening band finishes, and Plain Jane Automobile takes the stage.
Plain Jane Automobile always puts on a great show, but the sound techs really need to figure out the sound so Duke isn’t drowned out all the time. I’m not sure if it was the issue that we were standing right by the speaker or if it was because having three guitarists was drowning Duke out. But they were still fabulous as always - Jimmy came up and sang with them during Starving Streets. After their set, I headed over to the bar to get some water, and promptly ran into Duke coming offstage. I said hey, got a sweaty hug, grabbed my water and weaved my way back through the crowd to wait for Ours to take the stage.
Jimmy and co. took to the stage about 10:30 maybe? They opened with Willing but the sound was still too low, so Jimmy was gesturing to the sound guys to turn him up - it took a few songs, but finally at the end of Black they had gotten it right. Jimmy was in rare form - all smiley and heavy on the eye contact - and a bit touchy-feely as well. At the end of Mercy, he took a girl’s hand who was standing in front of the microphone and held it through the end of the song. If I was her, I would have melted into the floor. Which I practically did do later. April came up and played with them during Murder, and they played on Live Again for at least 15 minutes - maybe closer to 20.
At one point, Jimmy was talking to us and he asked if someone could get Static a shot of Maker’s Mark to put him out of his misery. Apparently Static had been drinking the night before and was seriously hungover all day to the point of being sick. Jimmy said “I don’t condone this drinking, you all know.” He also asked for a shot of Maker’s Mark for himself. Watching Jimmy and Static is a treat - they are so in tune with each other, not only musically, but personally too. During Meet Me in the Tower, Jimmy brought up Duke from PJA, along with Brett Manning and his wife, along with another girl, Kim (Who I think is a local musician in Nashville, or a friend of Jimmy’s, I’m not entirely sure). Meet Me in the Tower is always a highlight of the show for me - that is a song that I didn’t really like the first time I heard it but I really enjoy it live. After MMIT, Jimmy wouldn’t let Brett and his wife leave, saying that they must know something else. Brett suggested Red Colored Stars (A song I have never heard them sing live!), so he played it - it just Jimmy and Brett and his wife singing backup - no band, which was a cool take on it. They also played Kill the Band - which is a song I hadn’t heard until that night. After KTB, Jimmy told us all to get comfortable because they were going to play for another hour. I was standing right behind the speaker the entire night, and actually climbed up onto the speaker and sat on top of it since my feet were killing me. Jimmy and Duke danced all over the stage during Get Up and they can really dance! I was impressed. I thought they would end the show with that, but they launched right into Worst Things Beautiful, which is one of my favorite songs live. I have a tendency to bounce and flail all over the place during that song, and I did not disappoint. Erin bounced along with me (While I was sitting on the speaker) when she wasn’t laughing at me. At the end of the song, Jimmy was coming down the front row and taking everyone’s hands and thanking them for coming. Some people got kisses and him putting his forehead on their hands and some people just got eye contact. He took my hands and held them and looked into my eyes - and I’ll tell you, if I wasn’t sitting down on the speaker I might have passed out. His eyes are so full of expression.
The show ended and Erin and I wanted to hang out for a little bit to see if we could talk to Jimmy, while Trista and Robin decided to go back to the hotel. We hung out at the merch table for a bit and talked to James, and I turned around and saw that Jimmy was on the stage talking to a fan. I nudged Erin and told her and we headed over to talk to Jimmy. Jimmy saw us come over and jumped down to talk to us. Erin thanked him for singing Happy Birthday to her in Boston and he smiled like he remembered. I thanked him for listening to me and actually doing it, and he smiled and rubbed my back like I was an old friend. I smiled and wrapped my arm around his waist - he made me feel so comfortable. Although I did start to ramble and the words “You’re amazing” came out of my mouth - I told him that I was from Boston and had flown down for the show and was going to Nashville the next night. He looked genuinely pleased that I had come all that way to see them. Erin asked him about the acoustic album and he confirmed a few things would be on it. I asked about Mystery and he said it would be on it and that he wrote it in 30 seconds! I blurted out that I loved that song and the first time I heard it on the On The Rox bootleg I got chills. I was shaking the entire time talking to him, but managed to hold it together - even when he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close to him for a picture. The cool thing about that was my camera battery had died earlier in the evening. Just out of curiosity, I had turned it on before we had gone over to talk to Jimmy to see if I had any juice left - and I had enough juice in the battery for one picture. And it came out great. I took Erin’s camera and tried to take a picture of her and Jimmy, and I was shaking so badly that it came out blurry, so I tried again, and it was still blurry, but less so. Jimmy said we could take as many pictures we wanted to get one that wasn’t blurry but he practically had a line of people waiting to talk to him so we thanked him, I got a hug (for a tiny guy, he is an amazing hugger) and Erin and I went in search of Duke. I’m having a “WTF just happened moment” as we walked outside - and found Duke with one of the opening bands talking about showing and growing.
Duke was completely drunk off his ass and was hysterical. Of course, when Duke made the above comment, the other guys from the opening bands were looking at him like he just landed, while Erin starting giggling and blushing. Duke turns around and is like, “see she knows what it means!” Erin got a hug and a kiss on the cheek after Duke recognized her and asked her what she was doing in Nashville, since she lives in Atlanta. I again took her camera and tried to take a picture of her and Duke, but I was laughing too hard at him wrapping himself around her and making comments, so the picture came out blurry. Thankfully, a girl who was outside had the same camera as Erin does so she said that we could both get into the picture, so we went to wrap ourselves around Duke and took the picture. And we ended the evening as Duke’s ho’s. Because he knows pimpin’ ain’t easy.
We arrived in Nashville around 4:30 and checked into the hotel - and holy shit it was gorgeous. Trista arrived shortly thereafter and we pre-gamed a little while getting ready, before heading out to get some dinner at this great little pub - and it bears mentioning that I was in a tank top sitting outside eating dinner. In December. Can’t do that in New England. It’s at dinner Erin realizes that she doesn’t have her camera battery so after a quick stop at the hotel to pick it up (it was on the way anyway), she and I headed to the venue. We’re on the street the venue is on (12th I think?) and Matt from PJA walks right by us! We say hey and continue walking, as he’s walking in the opposite direction. We check in before the doors open and go back outside to wait for Robin and Trista to arrive, as Robin had forgotten her camera at the restaurant. While we’re sitting outside, Matt comes back, we say hey again, and he asks if we’re drunk. Um, not yet Matt.
The doors open and while there’s still no sign of Robin and Trista, Erin and I head inside anyway to snag a good spot by the stage. 12th and Porter is probably one of the more unique venues I have been to - there is a 2nd level as well as the floor, and the sound was great. The show began with a local guy (I can’t remember his name) and he was ok, but not really my thing. He did play with Kenny from Kid Rock though, and that was pretty cool. He goes off and the second local band comes on - and while their music again wasn’t my thing, they were alright. I will say though, that I am most impressed by how Ours fans treat opening bands, even if they’re not that great - they are not rude to them, but accept them and politely applaud. Which is much better then being rude. So the second opening band finishes, and Plain Jane Automobile takes the stage.
Plain Jane Automobile always puts on a great show, but the sound techs really need to figure out the sound so Duke isn’t drowned out all the time. I’m not sure if it was the issue that we were standing right by the speaker or if it was because having three guitarists was drowning Duke out. But they were still fabulous as always - Jimmy came up and sang with them during Starving Streets. After their set, I headed over to the bar to get some water, and promptly ran into Duke coming offstage. I said hey, got a sweaty hug, grabbed my water and weaved my way back through the crowd to wait for Ours to take the stage.
Jimmy and co. took to the stage about 10:30 maybe? They opened with Willing but the sound was still too low, so Jimmy was gesturing to the sound guys to turn him up - it took a few songs, but finally at the end of Black they had gotten it right. Jimmy was in rare form - all smiley and heavy on the eye contact - and a bit touchy-feely as well. At the end of Mercy, he took a girl’s hand who was standing in front of the microphone and held it through the end of the song. If I was her, I would have melted into the floor. Which I practically did do later. April came up and played with them during Murder, and they played on Live Again for at least 15 minutes - maybe closer to 20.
At one point, Jimmy was talking to us and he asked if someone could get Static a shot of Maker’s Mark to put him out of his misery. Apparently Static had been drinking the night before and was seriously hungover all day to the point of being sick. Jimmy said “I don’t condone this drinking, you all know.” He also asked for a shot of Maker’s Mark for himself. Watching Jimmy and Static is a treat - they are so in tune with each other, not only musically, but personally too. During Meet Me in the Tower, Jimmy brought up Duke from PJA, along with Brett Manning and his wife, along with another girl, Kim (Who I think is a local musician in Nashville, or a friend of Jimmy’s, I’m not entirely sure). Meet Me in the Tower is always a highlight of the show for me - that is a song that I didn’t really like the first time I heard it but I really enjoy it live. After MMIT, Jimmy wouldn’t let Brett and his wife leave, saying that they must know something else. Brett suggested Red Colored Stars (A song I have never heard them sing live!), so he played it - it just Jimmy and Brett and his wife singing backup - no band, which was a cool take on it. They also played Kill the Band - which is a song I hadn’t heard until that night. After KTB, Jimmy told us all to get comfortable because they were going to play for another hour. I was standing right behind the speaker the entire night, and actually climbed up onto the speaker and sat on top of it since my feet were killing me. Jimmy and Duke danced all over the stage during Get Up and they can really dance! I was impressed. I thought they would end the show with that, but they launched right into Worst Things Beautiful, which is one of my favorite songs live. I have a tendency to bounce and flail all over the place during that song, and I did not disappoint. Erin bounced along with me (While I was sitting on the speaker) when she wasn’t laughing at me. At the end of the song, Jimmy was coming down the front row and taking everyone’s hands and thanking them for coming. Some people got kisses and him putting his forehead on their hands and some people just got eye contact. He took my hands and held them and looked into my eyes - and I’ll tell you, if I wasn’t sitting down on the speaker I might have passed out. His eyes are so full of expression.
The show ended and Erin and I wanted to hang out for a little bit to see if we could talk to Jimmy, while Trista and Robin decided to go back to the hotel. We hung out at the merch table for a bit and talked to James, and I turned around and saw that Jimmy was on the stage talking to a fan. I nudged Erin and told her and we headed over to talk to Jimmy. Jimmy saw us come over and jumped down to talk to us. Erin thanked him for singing Happy Birthday to her in Boston and he smiled like he remembered. I thanked him for listening to me and actually doing it, and he smiled and rubbed my back like I was an old friend. I smiled and wrapped my arm around his waist - he made me feel so comfortable. Although I did start to ramble and the words “You’re amazing” came out of my mouth - I told him that I was from Boston and had flown down for the show and was going to Nashville the next night. He looked genuinely pleased that I had come all that way to see them. Erin asked him about the acoustic album and he confirmed a few things would be on it. I asked about Mystery and he said it would be on it and that he wrote it in 30 seconds! I blurted out that I loved that song and the first time I heard it on the On The Rox bootleg I got chills. I was shaking the entire time talking to him, but managed to hold it together - even when he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close to him for a picture. The cool thing about that was my camera battery had died earlier in the evening. Just out of curiosity, I had turned it on before we had gone over to talk to Jimmy to see if I had any juice left - and I had enough juice in the battery for one picture. And it came out great. I took Erin’s camera and tried to take a picture of her and Jimmy, and I was shaking so badly that it came out blurry, so I tried again, and it was still blurry, but less so. Jimmy said we could take as many pictures we wanted to get one that wasn’t blurry but he practically had a line of people waiting to talk to him so we thanked him, I got a hug (for a tiny guy, he is an amazing hugger) and Erin and I went in search of Duke. I’m having a “WTF just happened moment” as we walked outside - and found Duke with one of the opening bands talking about showing and growing.
Duke was completely drunk off his ass and was hysterical. Of course, when Duke made the above comment, the other guys from the opening bands were looking at him like he just landed, while Erin starting giggling and blushing. Duke turns around and is like, “see she knows what it means!” Erin got a hug and a kiss on the cheek after Duke recognized her and asked her what she was doing in Nashville, since she lives in Atlanta. I again took her camera and tried to take a picture of her and Duke, but I was laughing too hard at him wrapping himself around her and making comments, so the picture came out blurry. Thankfully, a girl who was outside had the same camera as Erin does so she said that we could both get into the picture, so we went to wrap ourselves around Duke and took the picture. And we ended the evening as Duke’s ho’s. Because he knows pimpin’ ain’t easy.