Deciding which gigs to catch last weekend was more difficult than figuring out the plot of The Big Sleep in a single viewing (another recent headache of mine—yeah, yeah, I’ll get to the book).
I had a great time at Ash Lawn Opera‘s final production of The Marriage of Figaro, but missed Pantherburn at Fridays After Five. On Saturday, I skipped Six Day Bender at Is and George Jones at the Charlottesville Pavilion for a set by the Raquellos at The Bridge. And Sarah White, David Sickmen and Franz Nicolay put on a great gig at Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar on Sunday night, but this review of The Big Surprise Tour made me wish I could’ve had my rock and rolled it, too. When you’ve got an embarrassment of musical riches, well, a music writer is actually embarrassed when he can’t do it all.
So, I propose a trade: Leave your reviews of the shows you caught this weekend in the comment section below. (I know that there were plenty of Old Crow fans eager to catch the group after its opening gigs for Dave Matthews Band in April.)
In return, I offer you a bit of anticipatory excitement: Six Day Bender’s Luke Nutting left a copy of the band’s new EP, Deliverance, on my desk yesterday, and says the group will release a new full-length on Friday, November 13. And the Raquellos will release an album on October 10 with a gig at the Tea Bazaar. Of course, that’s the same night that Titus Andronicus returns to town for a gig at the Southern. As I was reminded this past weekend, choose wisely.
Titus Andronicus, "Upon Viewing Bruegel’s ‘Landscape With the Fall of Icarus’"
