Sludge/Stoner/Doom metal riff vixens: Liz Buckingham of Electric Wizard, Wata of Boris, Ruyter Suys of Nashville Pussy, and Andrea Black of A Storm of Light.

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ROYALLY YELLOW AND GREEN: BARONESS AND ROYAL THUNDER @ THE END, NASHVILLE, TN

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Last night was a bit of a whirlwind of events. As of April 26, I am a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and my main duder Jared gave me one hell of a graduation present by taking me up to Nashville for this show. Before the show, we spent some time in Hendersonville paying respects at the graves of Johnny Cash and the Carter family, which really set the mood for the show coming later in the evening. We arrived at The End early and waited around in drizzly rain with coffee and doughnuts. I talked a bit with Josh from Royal Thunder, who amazingly remembered me from last summer (probably because I was a babbling drunken idiot the last time he saw me). In any case, the show soon got under way.

Royal Thunder, from the Atlanta scene, was a band I was only modestly familiar with before seeing this show, although a few people have shoved them in my face quite a bit over the past few months *coughPetercough*. They have this very retro, old-school psychedelia vibe to them that was good to trance out to, and I have to say that Mlny Parsons has one hell of a voice. She comes from the Jinx Dawson/Grace Slick school of singing, and her melodic yet gritty vocal style fit really well with the music. They’re a young band but definitely have more time to grow and shape up. Keep your eye on these folks.

Baroness’ set felt like something completely otherworldly. A few blog readers had tipped me off that they would perform two or three new songs from their upcoming double-LPYellow & Green, and they most certainly did. The first new track was absolutely gorgeous, even though I don’t know the name of it. The second was “Take My Bones Away”, the same track they teased fans with at a live show last September. I could already tell by the audiences’ reactions that this song was going to be a new fan favorite.

There were two other major highlights about their set that had be absolutely in hysterics. First was the reprised version of “Steel that Sleeps The Eye”, which has Baizley doing almost all of the vocal parts. I never realized what a gorgeous singing voice that guy has until he was towering over me, humming those words out of his mouth. Absolutely beautiful. The next big surprise was the performance of “Rays on Pinion”, my favorite Baroness song, and one that I thought I would never get to hear live. It was completely magic.

All in all, it was one of the best concert experiences I’ve had in recent memory. As mentioned in my previous post, I met guitarist Pete Adams after the show and told him that this show was my graduation present, and he hugged me and said he was proud of me. What an ace guy he is. His kind words alone was enough to totally make my night, and it served as a perfect ending to my academic career. Baroness are a band that I love dearly, their music is the closest thing I will ever get to hearing a work of art speak from its canvas. Much love also goes out to Jared for making all of this possible. You rule so fucking hard, and I love you for it.

PS: I have video footage from this show, but it will have to wait until Monday to be loaded onto YouTube. To see more live shots like the ones in this review, click HERE!

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Through the never-ending stress that comes from school and work, I managed to make this dorky MS paint comic of Matt Pike taking Scott Kelly’s words a little to seriously. I apologize for nothing.

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