Girl at the Rock Shows

I’m not a vacationer. I’m a traveler, but I rarely just go on vacation. My boyfriend and I wanted to change that this year, so we started looking for places to go. The rules were that we couldn’t plan the vacation around family and couldn’t plan it around a concert. Easy, right? Did we want to go down south? Maybe somewhere near Joshua Tree? Or maybe upstate New York in the woods. It all felt so overwhelming. That’s when we realized that Murder By Death was going to be playing at The Cavern in Pelham, Tennessee. I know one of the rules was no concerts, but I quickly realized I like to travel for concerts, not vacation for fun, so after pulling together some loose plans for where to stay and the dates, we hopped on a plane and headed to Tennessee.

We spent our first night in town doing the tourist thing. Honestly, this was my first time in the state, so I wanted to do the stereotypical Broadway Street thing in downtown Nashville. We went to all the celebrity-owned and branded bars, but I quickly realized that wasn’t the scene for me. I was annoyed by the onslaught of bachelorette parties on the street, and the cover bands playing the same few songs in all of the bars were making my ears bleed. Don’t get me wrong, it was an experience and one that I was glad to have, but leaving the bright city lights and heading into the middle of nowhere is what my heart needed. The change of scenery was beautiful, and unlike anything I had ever seen before. Our Airbnb continued to open my eyes to a whole new world: a small treehouse tiny home in the middle of the woods, but nothing blew my mind on this trip quite like arriving at The Caverns.

I’ve been to Red Rocks and seen a show there. It was absolutely a religious experience, and I remember walking up into that iconic natural venue with my jaw on the ground. That being said, there was something just a bit more dramatic about walking into The Caverns. A subterranean cave situation at the base of the Cumberland Plateau in Pelham, Tennessee, I can’t even begin to describe what it’s like to walk down to this venue. You park just a few yards up the hill and then start the short jaunt down to the base. A small bar and gift shop sit in the “fancy parking area,” marking the beginning of the trail down to the cavern. After a quick pass through security and then through the ticket takers, you start a trail surrounded by trees, rock, and greenery. As you walk, you quickly feel the temperature drop and, within just a few feet, you see it.

There’s a giant hole in the hill that gives way to a cave. Okay, Minnesota girl from Iowa speaking here, but I just don’t know much about caves. I have never been in a cave and have never really spent much time looking into what a cavern really was, but here I was, at the mouth of one and about to go deeper in it to see a freaking rock show. Yeah, my mind was blown, and I will never forget the moments I spent walking up to the stage and taking it all in. Sure, there were lights and other man-made things to make this a viable venue, but really it was untouched. Rocks jutted in and out of the walls, with small rock formations hanging from the ceiling. To say that the backdrop was a photographer’s dream would be an understatement, and my spoiled butt had a photo pass.

I wasn’t going to go for the photo pass. Again, this was supposed to be a vacation, not a work trip, but come on, if the chance is there, why not take it? That’s how most people think, but not me. I was nervous. There was no way I was going to get anything for this show. I was just some random blogger and photographer from Minneapolis, right? Wrong. I don’t know what got into me a few weeks ago, but I went ahead and made the ask and, within minutes, was granted the coveted photo pass. It was too good to be true, but alas, there it was in writing, meaning that come Sunday night, as I was trying to take in everything around me, I was also strapping my cameras on and getting ready to shoot a show.

You’re not here to read about me getting a photo pass. You’re not here to read about how I wanted to cry as I peeled the back off that pass to stick it to my dress. You don’t care about my nerves reaching an all-time high as I went up to security and asked about getting into the photo pit or if that was even an option. You care about the music, so let’s jump into it (but, truthfully, I’ll keep it brief because this is already a long article and I want to go back to enjoying this vacation rather than working).

Black Guy Fawkes was first up on the gorgeous stage at The Caverns on Sunday. Born Ian Robinson, Black Guy Fawkes is a champion of the DIY scene. He has been touring around and presenting his heartfelt emo-drenched singer-songwriter anthems with a sense of fury that will always keep me coming back. He was clearly also in awe of the setting, as he took the stage and said something to the effect of, “I’m playing in a freaking cave, ya’ll!” but that didn’t distract him. From the second his first song started until the end of his final song, Black Guy Fawkes was clearly locked in. He had a lot to say and not much time to say it, so he wanted to make sure his audience was locked in with him. It was easy to see that they were. You didn’t just hear Black Guy Fawkes’ words; you felt them, and you could feel everyone around you feeling them the same way, which gave the already beautiful setting a truly stunning feeling of love and community.

Following the superb opening set from Black Guy Fawkes was a superb and straight-up party with Larry & His Flask. I’ve seen this band perform live before, but it has been years. Heck, it has been over a decade, and I truthfully forgot how much I love seeing this band live. They took the DIY ethos of Black Guy Fawkes and mixed it with this lively folk-bluegrass-punk-Americana kind of sound. Honestly, watching this band perform is a bit like watching Gogol Bordello. As I said, it’s a party, but it’s also a cacophony of fun. You had bassist Jeshua Marshall spinning and lifting his double bass like it was a feather. You had drummer Jamin Marshall going from standing behind his drum set to standing on it various times throughout the set. Literally, I could pick something out about every member of this band, but there’s just not enough time, so I will leave it at this– Larry and His Flask is a stunner of a live band and, had this been any other show, I would have said that they stole it.

There was no stealing this show. I was just so in awe of the space, the opportunity, and the overall vibes of this night that I don’t want to rank any of the acts that I saw, but I will say that the headliner of the night was Murder By Death, and they absolutely deserved to be the headliner.

Sunday night was the third night of Murder By Death’s little residency at The Caverns. Each of the three nights was a twenty-year celebration of Murder By Death’s iconic 2006 album, ‘In Bocca al Lupo,’ so each night the band played the album in its entirety before moving on to other songs from their storied discography. It wasn’t just a celebration of this album, but also a celebration of this band. Murder By Death have been on the road since their conception back in 2000, so it was no surprise that they called it quits on touring last year. Although it broke my heart, I understood why and, truthfully, I said goodbye to this band (live, at least) back on July 19th of last year at First Avenue. I didn’t read the fine print, and that fine print was that, although this band was no longer going to tour anymore, they were going to continue doing special shows, specifically this annual weekend at The Caverns.

Having seen Murder By Death before, this was a standard set from them. That’s not a bad thing nor a surprising thing. This band has been doing their thing for decades, and they haven’t changed since day one. They have always been themselves, both when it comes to their personality on stage and their music, and I really appreciated the fact that even given this otherworldly setting, nothing had changed. The band felt comfortable in their space, which, in turn, made me comfortable. As someone with severe anxiety and who could be classified as a bit of a creature of habit, with my standard spots and my standard “rounds” when I photograph at venues back home, being out of my element was rough, but Murder By Death’s comfort seemed to transfer to me in such a beautiful way.

It wasn’t just their energy; it was also their sound. Murder By Death could be classified as an indie band. Some people may consider them murderfolk. I could see someone saying creepy folk-punk or even a little gypsy-punk. All of those descriptions are right, as are many others. Truthfully, it doesn’t matter how you want to classify their sound. All that matters is you pick up on the energy, the beauty, and the heart, and this is a band where, when you see them live, it’s impossible not to pick up on all of that. We sang, we cried, we smiled, we cheered– really, there’s a lot more that can be said about Murder By Death’s set, but I don’t remember much of it. I was having a religious experience, and I don’t even want to attempt to put that into words.

Look, this was a long post, I know, and I won’t apologize for it. Sunday night at The Caverns with Black Guy Fawkes, Larry & His Flask, and Murder By Death changed my life and, no, I’m not being dramatic.

Cheers to you, The Caverns. I can not freaking wait to come back next year.