Nashville came out on November 11th to Cannery Ballroom to see Olivia O’Brien, who last played at Cannery just before lockdown began in 2020.
O’Brien started off The Olivia O’Brien Show by walking out and informing us that she was the host, she was the musical guest, and she was doing everything, which had the audience giggling and shouting her name back to her. Then she began, and opened her set with “We’re All Gonna Die.” Someone threw a white cowboy hat onstage, which O’Brien promptly picked up and placed on her head, resulting in an even louder round of applause.
O’Brien continued to play favorites off the first half of her new album Episodes: Season 1 including “Sociopath,” while also treating everyone to songs off of her first album such as “Just Friends.” Throughout the entire show, the audience could be heard singing the lyrics back to her.
Adam Melchor returned to his native tri-state area to perform at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Friday, November 5.
With his family in the crowd, the artist filled the night with special memories for everyone in attendance. Melchor began the night somewhat nervously divulging the stories behind his songs and expressing his immense gratitude to the crowd.
As the night progressed, Melchor’s nerves settled, allowing him to get more personal. Prior to playing the song “Jewel”, he shared a story about the moment his sister said that she saw herself being with her boyfriend (now husband) forever, who were both in attendance. He found the moment so sweet that he had decided to write a song about it.
He then continued on with a different story, this time about his friend/song writing partner. The friend’s neighbor had just gotten a “broken rooster”, who was cawing at all hours of the day. When the two met up for a songwriting session, Melchor wanted to focus on the sweet moment with his sister. As the session progressed, they got stuck on a verse. After spitballing ideas for awhile, they exchanged glances and Melchor said,
“So the second verse is going to be about the rooster huh…”
As he performed the song, the crowd collectively laughed as Melchor sang the verse that goes,
“There’s a rooster in the yard behind us
Crowing at all hours of the day
He must be blind but
He only has to get it right just once
Like I got it right with you
‘Cause you’re my jewel”
Rounding out the family affair was his dad joining Melchor and his band on stage to perform “Real Estate”. Melchor shared that when he was growing up his first exposure to music was at his friends’ houses. His dad would often pick him up and ask everyone about their afternoon. When Melchor shared that they had been playing music, his dad picked up the guitar and casually whipped out a few licks, leaving the young Melchor and all of his friends in absolute astonishment.
You can listen to Adam Melchor’s debut album, Melchor Lullaby Hotline Vol. 1, here.
Christian Leave warmed up the crowd for beabadobee at Webster Hall on Thursday, November 6.
At just 21 years old, the critically-acclaimed artist has collected over 6 million total streams and has become a mainstay on some of Spotify’s most popular playlists, such as Lorem, Indie Pop, and The New Alt.
His popularity was highlighted the moment Leave and his band ran onto the stage. The large crowd began enthusiastically cheering and jumping with such voracity that the floors of Webster Hall shook beneath them.
Surprisingly, this energy did not overwhelm Leave, who performed the majority of his set with a cool and calm demeanor. We look forward to watching the young artist continue to grow and creatively evolve in the coming years. In the meantime, listen to his latest EP Days Like Lost Dogs here.
On November 2nd, St. Louis gathered at The Pageant to see headliner Walk the Moon – who were back for the first time since 2018 – and opener Jany Green on the Dream Plane Tour.
Jany Green kicked off the high-energy show, and had everyone moving and dancing early in the night, especially while singing his hit single “Little.” Though only joined on stage by his drummer, Jany Green had no lack of presence and captivated the audience completely with his infectious personality and music.
Walk the Moon took the stage after, and front-man Nicholas Petricca asked about how many people in the crowd were at their first show back since the pandemic began. Nearly everyone raised a hand. The magic and gratitude that was felt in that moment from everyone in the venue was palpable. St. Louis had another special moment – Nicholas Petricca grew up in the Lou and had family at the show! The crowd gave them a bunch of applause, too.
And of course, Walk the Moon had the entire house bouncing from start to finish. They played hits including Shut Up and Dance as well new music from their upcoming album that releases on November 12th titled Heights. They came back out for two encore songs, finishing with fan-favorite “Anna Sun,” which, if I do say so myself, was a spiritual experience.
Take a look at the gallery below with photos from the night.
Elah Hale opened for Lewis Del Mar at The Bowery Ballroom on Thursday, October 7th. The easygoing artist approached her performance just as she does her music — with pure authenticity.
Raised in New York City, Hale had several friends and family present at the show. The artist coyly smiled as she mentioned that she can’t tell the stories she usually tells during her set as a result.
“I’m 22 now, mom and dad, I’m going to drink!” she laughed.
Hale instead chose to tell wholesome stories to preface her songs. One particular story that stood out was about a fan named Sarah, who had reached out to Hale via Instagram DM’s. Sarah expressed how a certain song was critical to helping her get through a tough time, which touched Hale. As she was finishing up the story, Hale pointed to a section of the crowd and called out to Sarah to say hi. Members of the crowd rushed to yell hi to Sarah as well, making an already important moment all the more memorable to the fan.
Elah Hale is set to release new music in the near future. In the meantime, listen to her latest single, Foolish here.
As the beginning notes of “The 1” rang out, the crowd at Baby’s All Right eagerly whipped out their phones to record María Isabel’s entrance. The New York City native couldn’t contain her excitement at selling out two hometown shows.
“You guys have no idea how happy I am to be here, I love you all so much,” she gushed.
The crowd laughed and began shouting how much they loved Isabel, leading to a back and forth exchange of “I love you” between Isabel and the crowd that lasted about 30 seconds. Isabel carried on with her set, performing “Stuck in the Sky”, “Where Does the Love Go?”, and “De Na’” amongst other fan favorites.
Easily the highlight of the night, Isabel took a break from her discography and excitedly led the crowd in singing “Happy Birthday” to her brother JJ, who turned 21 that night.
Life is Beautiful music festival was this past weekend in Las Vegas, back since 2019 and better than ever. Check out the gallery below for a full recap of all the fun. Images by Megan Dirksen and Gaby Deimeke.
Dayglow performed at House of Blues in Dallas last night. It was his first stop on his Harmony House tour and the show was fantastic. Check out the images from the show, taken by Natalie Perez.
Nashville danced all weekend long during the Deep Tropics music, art, and style festival, paying no mind to the sweltering heat. It was a collective agreement that we were all grateful to be together, sharing love and sweating it out on the dance floor after a year where we were all so far apart.
Photos by Lauren Hayes.
One of the coolest parts about Deep Tropics was that it was set to be the greenest festival in the world. If you were there you noticed there were zero trash cans. That’s right! Everything was compostable or recyclable, including all the cutlery and even free ash try pouches. The commitment to being sustainable was refreshing to see, and it was incredible to see so many attendees who were passionate about the environment as well.
Whethan closing out Day 1.
The Friday lineup included Clozee and Whethan on the Meru main stage, and the amphitheater was packed for both of their sets.
Young Bae and Hourglass on Day 2 of Deep Tropics.
Hourglass kicked us off on Saturday. The crowd was slowly trickling in, but she had everyone up and dancing and ready for Day 2 in no time. Cassian and Young Bae followed on the main stage while people flaunted their outfits and much-needed fans.
Qemist and Daily Bread on the Congo Soundsystem stage.
And let’s not forget about the Congo Soundsystem stage! This stage was close to the heart of Tennessee. Memphis-native Qemist performed, as well as several hip-hop artists from Nashville such as A.B. Eastwood, $avvy, Brian Brown, and Tim Gent. The energy around this stage was always a vibe no matter who was playing!
As the night rolled around, more and more people streamed in. Bubbles filled the air, the VIP section was bouncing, and folks were captivated by the poi spinners around the park. Unfortunately, Moon Boots had to cancel on Saturday, whom I know many fans were looking forward to. But CharlestheFirst and Claude VonStroke kept the spirits alive, so any momentary sadness at that news was soon forgotten.
Deep Tropics was an incredible way to close out summer and celebrate the return of music festivals. Hopefully this helped pave the way to making all festivals sustainable, showing that we can do all of our favorite things while saving the planet, too. See you all next year!
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