I just flew back from Nashville and boy, are my arms tired. I dropped in on Mr. and Mrs. Mix and their dogs and took in the Foo Fighters concert. Unfortunately, life issues took over and Mr. Mix had to visit his sick Mom in the hospital, so he scurried back to Cleveland on Saturday morning. But Mrs. Mix and I maintained the previously scheduled events and they went on as planned.

The Dogs

The dogs were OK. Apparently, Daisy had some...ahem..."anal gland" problem recently, but is better now. My goodness, that's a phrase you don't want to hear. And Penny, a Rottweiler so rough and tough, she sleeps at the vet.

An action photo of those two:

















BTW, they are also terrified of the Roomba. I witnessed that. The other Rottweilers probably walk around muttering, "What happened?"

New Word

The new word that I learned our friends to the South use is "toboggan". Mrs. Mix told me they have codes at the hospital for all sorts of things. When patients decide to take unauthorized smoke breaks, it's announced with a description that doesn't panic anyone, but leads everyone to find the culprit. This week with the cold snap in Nashville, one was described something like "wearing a green jacket with a toboggan." Being from the North, she declared, "They should be easy to find carrying a toboggan." It was explained to her that's a knit hat, not a sled. I don't know, that's so "cattywompus".

MapQuest is The Devil

The Devil of All Navigation Tools reared its ugly head, not once, but twice this weekend. Being in Music City, we had lots of music to hear. Through a friend of a friend, we headed over to a coffee shop near Music Row to hear some guy on Friday. Me, in a coffeehouse? I'll explain later. Anyhow, MapQuest led us on an adventure to non-existent alleys and we ended up chasing our tail a while. Then we phoned for real directions.

On Saturday, the Foo Fighters were at the not-often used venue of the Nashville Auditorium. The address listed led us to the parking lot of the Country Music Hall of Fame on 4th Street. Then we phoned for real directions. They went as follows: Take 4th to Broadway, then go to 5th and go down 5th for EIGHT BLOCKS! Thanks, MapQuest!

Our love of MapQuest is like the lure of a Siren, we keep going and meet with eventual doom.

Friday Night

On Friday when I first arrived in Nashville at home base for the weekend, I didn't even unpack and was already munching on Brisket Sliders and sipping Old Grand-Dad. You know, why can't every weekend start like that?

Then the three of us headed over to Edgehill Studios Cafe to see some guy singing. He reminded me of a Teddy. Not Teddy Kennedy or Teddy Ruxpin or Teddy Atlas, but Teddy Geiger. Anyhow, they served beer, so I was down with that. We were the last ones to leave. Note: Bud Light born-on date was 1/4/08. Not bad!

Eventually, we made it to La Hacienda, a Mexican favorite in Nashville (Dig that musica loca, amigo). The easiest descriptor of this place would be that it is like the Luchita's of Nashville. I had the Enchiladas Supremas. You got your beef, your chicken, your cheese and your bean. I ran out of petrol before I got to the bean. It was very good.

"U2 3D"

On Saturday, Mrs. Mix and I forged ahead as best as we could, given the worry in the air. So, we headed over to the Regal Beagle IMAX at Opryland as planned to see "U2 3D". Once again, it's the Vertigo tour revisited. I have now seen this live, on the Chicago DVD, and now in 3D. But this is not your father's 3D. You know, the "Monster Chiller Horror Theatre" knife lunging at you. No, thirteen dolla and an ICEE purchase later, this is IMAX and Bono and yellow-rimmed 3D glasses, baby. Here comes the science.

Boy, IMAX is in a bigass auditorium, isn't it? Anyhow, it was a bit chilly in there, I don't know if that's to keep the equipment warm or what. They needed yellow-rimmed blankies, I'd say. That was another thing. The Nashville weather folk said it would warm up on Saturday. They lied or I missed that revised forecast.

Anyhow, the opening credits start rolling and what's this name I see, David Modell? As one of the Executive Producers? Brother John Modell as Producer? No. Could it be? Sure enough. In the closing credits, under "The Producers Would Like to Thank the Following", who do you think got top billing? Yep. Arthur & Patricia Modell. Bah! All, I could think of was Raven Money.

As for the movie. Awesome. Filmed mostly at an outdoor stadium in Buenos Aires without much of Bono's preaching. Mostly musica. Trust me, you have never seen 3D like this. From the beginning credits, the words are right in your face. There was a dude about four rows ahead of us and I'm telling you, it seemed there was movie action that was behind him! When there were audience members (on the film) sitting on someone's shoulders, or water being splashed or one of the mic stands up close, my God, it was like you were there. The only time Bono played to the camera was during "Sunday, Bloody Sunday". "Wipe your tears away...". Here comes his hand. I thought I could touch it. Or maybe slap it. Then everyone jumping during "Where The Streets Have No Name" is incredible. I'm tellin' you, this was tres cool.

Oddities:

Larry Mullen, Jr. looks like he drinks Hawaiian Punch Orange during the show.

Bono kissed Adam Clayton on the lips. In 3D. Huh?

Does The Edge ever take his toboggan off?

Guys were on other guys shoulders on the field. Not sure that happens up North.

I think everyone in the audience had a cellphone and was taking pictures.

For most songs, The Edge uses Fender, as does Clayton. Bono plays a Gretsch.

The Modells.

This may actually come to Cleveland, as I think it will be at some 3-D digital theatres in a few weeks.

We followed the movie up with lunch at Five Guys. It's a burger joint that has a couple of locations in NE Ohio. Great burgers. When you order a burger, remember it's two patties. That's real ground meat with that bun. I had A-1, grilled onions and mustard. And some Cajun fries. This was good and someone with a brain had the sense to build one diagonally from Vanderbilt. Oh, they'll get hungry walkers.

Foo Fighters

Well, you know it's a rock and roll show when Dave Grohl is in town. And the man did not disappoint.

The Venue: Nashville Municipal Auditorium. Not sure how much this is used these days. Upcoming events there include the Ohio Valley Conference Basketball Tournament, Sammy Kershaw, Bell Biv DeVoe and the Doodlebops. Not exactly a stellar lineup, as most head over to the Sommet Center and the Ryman. Anyhow, it's an old bowl with no elevators to the top. We have ramps!

Oddly enough, when we arrived, we see two long lines of people going in opposite directions. Wait a minute, it's 20 minutes before showtime and no people are inside yet? WTF? Someone didn't have the keys or something. Mrs. Mix and I join the line going away from the entrance because we figure there will be an end somewhere. After walking halfway around the building with no end in sight, we just cut in. These lines reminded me of "Midnight Express". People just walking with no clue as to what the hell is going on. Once inside though, gee, this building reeks of old. Since there aren't many events there, don't ask "employees" anything. They must contract them all and no one knows about seats, directions, etc. Even official looking-people. Mixed drinks were $7 and $13 for a double. Trust me, get the single Crown Royal and soda. I got Kevin pours for the $7.

Dave Grohl: There's something about Dave Grohl. Man, he is quite the entertainer. First things out of his mouth after a couple of songs: "How long do you think bands play? Hour fifteen, naw, that's barely a show. Hour-and-a-half, anyone can do that. Hour forty-five, if you're lucky. I'm thinkin' TWO FUCKIN' HOURS!"

"We're gonna play old shit, new shit, acoustic shit, rock shit". God, he makes me laugh.

I can't remember which song he did this for, it was early in the set. But the audience was singing along, and he stops the music. He said, "Look, it's my song, I fuckin' wrote it. I get to fuckin' sing it."

During the acoustic set, he mentioned when you come to Nashville, there's a lot of pros in the audience, guys who can play music. So, you have to show something extra, like a secret weapon. He mentioned KFC and the 13 spices and introduced his percussionist as his special sauce and made him do a...triangle solo!

He also introduced the folks in his band during the acoustic set. Some were "bad motherfuckers", even the strings woman, by this time on violin. Others were "fuckin' genius".

After the last song when everyone's waiting for encores, the video screen comes on. Night vision camera shows a wall backstage. It has sheets of paper taped to the wall. One reads "1/26 Nashville". People cheer. Then the next long sheet has the setlist. So, the camera scans from top-to-bottom over the list of songs. Louder cheering. You see after the finale, there is a sheet of paper covering the encores. Then who do they switch to? Of course, it's Grohl standing there pondering with hand on chin. Are they gonna play. He cups his ear to the crowd, they go crazy. This goes on for a while and it is funny. Then Tyler Hawkins gets into the act and eventually they decide to come back. It was pretty unique.

The Tickets: We were in the Balcony in Section H-2 in Row S. Worked out great (Thanks, eBay!). It's not really a balcony, it's the section behind the main aisle, but you have to use the upper portals to get to your seats. Row A starts at the floor, so you can see, we were not really that high. They had no seats behind the stage. Our section was the second one being used on that side, but the first one fully in front of the stage. The crowd was a fairly typical one, but slanted toward the younger set.

















The oddest thing happened though. While Mrs. Mix went on a drink run, all of a sudden, in my periphery, I see a body come hurtling through the air. Yes, a woman comes flying over the seats and does a faceplant two rows ahead of me, landing between the first and second aisle seats. Uh, the seats were occupied, but I think miraculously, she wedged herself between them and did not have a direct hit on the occupants. It was funny, because she was like a tripod with her butt in the air for several seconds. She finally sat down in the aisle seat in the row directly in front of us. Then male companion finally showed up to get her drunken ass out of there. He had to come back and get her cellphone, which she dropped on the floor. Thought they were done, but no, they later came back and he made her apologize to all that had been troubled. That's when I learned she also had the wrong kind of shoes on. I'm a guy, I don't notice those things. The girl in front of us said she recognized those two from Titans games and they are always drunk. Now that football is over, I guess it's the Foos and then the Doodlebops for drinking.

The Sound: I have no reference point. The first act was an LA band named Hello Stranger. They were playing as people were still circling the building, so we didn't hear a lot from them. Chick lead singer. Their closing song was AC/DC's "Thunder". Seemed like an odd choice, I thought I was awaiting kickoff at a Browns game. Sound was very muddied.

The middle act was Against Me! Love that exclamation point. The sound was much better. They were punky and were the men in black. T-shirts and pants all black. A band with some angry music, I'd say. Vocals remind me of The Offspring. They have a single that got some airplay, "Thrash Unreal". Spin named their album, "New Wave', the best of 2007. I liked them.

The Foo Fighters sounded great. I heard every one of Dave Grohl's screams and F-bombs with clarity.

The Stage: The setup is a rather sparse stage with a platform in the back. Stage juts out into the audience, so Grohl can run up front and a small addition on each side of the stage upfront allows for the typical gesturing and running around with your guitar. Four video screens behind the stage, not very elaborate.

The coolest thing though was a long ramp from the stage that ran down the center to what appeared to be a circle at the other end. Was it a covered pool, a trampoline, a fire pit? No, it was a circular stage. Omigod. It afforded people who thought they had shitty general admission seats, standing in the back, an opportunity to see the "Unplugged" section of the show up close and personal. How about that? As Grohl is playing the intro to "Skin and Bones", walking down the ramp with his guitar, a stage (with full load of mikes and instruments) is descending from the heights. He does the vocals on that stage, as the band has now followed him down there. Awesome.

Here is the band deployment. Wait a minute, the first song starts and the Foos are now an eight-member band. We have four guitars, including Grohl up front. A cellist in a nice little black dress on the right. Yes, she is female. In the back, we have, left to right: Keyboards, Tyler Hawkins on drums, of course, and percussion. This outfit went back and forth, used mostly for the new album, all of the acoustic portion and the first encore.

The Music:: A really strong performance last night, I thought. Terrific version of "The Pretender". The overall setup and conclusion of "Skin and Bones" was a kick. The acoustic version of "My Hero" was spot on. Grohl did a SOLO version of "Everlong" that was unbelievable. A pleasant surprise was Arcade Fire's "Keep The Car Runnin'" for the first encore. Grohl said it was a great song, it isn't ours, but we're gonna play it. Fit the makeup of the larger ensemble quite well. And how can you go astray with some "Monkey Wrench"?

Setlist:

Let It Die
The Pretender
Times Like These
Breakout
Learn To Fly
Cheer Up Boys (Your Make Up Is Running)
This Is A Call
Stacked Actors
Skin And Bones
Marigold
My Hero
Cold Day In The Sun
But, Honestly
Everlong
Monkey Wrench
All My Life

Encore:

Keep The Car Running
Best of You

I will definitely see the Foo Fighters when they come back to our fair city. This was a really, really good show and they are in absolute fine form. They are on the Grammys soon, doing that Justin Timberlake thing from last year, where they will play with a contest winner. I lucked out to see them, because they cancelled shows on Monday and Tuesday of this week, due to illness. Grohl was drinking out of a cup before the encores and said he was a good boy, drinking some tea for his throat. So, maybe it was him.