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The Spin: AutoVaughn, De Novo Dahl, and The Pink Spiders

Friday night The Cannery gave us all a little more bang for our buck than usual, offering up three of Nashville’s hardest working rock bands on a triple-headlining bill. Determined to get things off to an early start, the show was advertised as starting at 9 p.m. so we were sure to get there on time for once.

The Spin: M.I.A. & Holy Fuck at City Hall

(All photos by Steve Cross.)

When The Spin arrived at City Hall at 8:30 p.m., Canadian lab-rockers Holy Fuck had already taken the stage with their bloopy, glitchy dance beats featuring bass, drums and two knob-twiddlers. There were a few vocoder-distorted lyrics, but mostly hunched-over, jammy grooves that blended into one big kaleidoscopic melty jam.

The Spin: British Sea Power, Jeffrey Lewis and The Rosebuds

(All photos by Steve Cross.)

It was a Saturday night much like any other in Nashville last night. The air was cool with spring still struggling to get sprung and Mercy Lounge was host to an exciting, assorted line up of touring bands. Despite our best efforts toward an early arrival so as not to miss opener Jeffrey Lewis, he was already playing once we got inside.

The Spin: Jay Reatard at Mercy Lounge

(All photos by Steve Cross.)

When we rolled up on Mercy Lounge last night at almost 10 p.m., we figured things would be well underway, and even had cash ready to pay for parking. But it looked like about only 20 cars were there, and the second $3 lot was still gated.

Either we missed listed openers Curse of the Drinking Class altogether, or they never played. Once inside, the bar looked just opened and the place was virtually empty save for about 10 people. We realized the owners of those other 10 cars were on the deck smokin' it up, so we waited around until High on Life took the "stage."

The Spin: Earth at Springwater

Did you ever think you'd see the day where sparse, down-tempo minimalism would pack out the Springwater on a Monday night? Coupled with tornadoes and hurricanes, perhaps these truly are the end times. Nevertheless, we partied like it was 1999 while keeping things totally chill as drone-metal pioneers Earth trucked into town.

The Spin: Sonic Youth & Leslie Keffer @ City Hall

Last night, The Spin descended upon City Hall to find a long line snaking around the building, and the crowd was a mixed bag of regular people and old people. Some of the regular, non-old people looked too young to have heard anything before Sonic Youth's most recent record, 2006's Rather Ripped. But that wasn't a handicap, as the band's set focused largely on that record. But first, they'd have to wait through opener Leslie Keffer's squall of feedback, static and noise, and the crowd seemed sharply divided.

The Spin: Skeletonwitch at The Muse

If you were by chance hoping to catch Hate Eternal last night at the Exit/In, well, you were shit out of luck. The Exit/In website reported the show canceled, though sources with the venue, promotion agency and the bands were unable to confirm or deny. At 6:30 p.m. we received word that the show was indeed canned, but that some semblance of the lineup would be appearing that night at the Muse, tagged to the end of a hardcore show featuring Dawn, RTS, Deconsecration, Karoshi, Brainwreck and The Castle Is a Tomb.

When we arrived we got the skinny from Skeletonwitch, who were originally scheduled to open at the Exit/In. Hate Eternal's van broke down, keeping them from arriving in Nashville. Music City Booking and the remaining bands attempted to salvage the night with a discounted ticket price, but the Exit/In ultimately opted to keep its doors closed instead. Toxic Holocaust drove to Atlanta, Soilent Green took the night off and Skeletonwitch hustled their way onto the bill at the Muse. Metalheads arriving at the Exit/In were informed that the show was canceled and that Skeletonwitch would be playing across town, and a surprising number made the trek. All in all, the ticket price dropped, and the best band on the bill was now headlining a smaller venue with the cream of Nashville's hardcore crop (hardcore as in not Hatebreed).

The Spin: The Raconteurs at the Cannery

The Spin heard the soundtrack to the summer of ’08 last night, and The Raconteurs played it. Remember driving around in your crapmobile the Saturday after school let out, cranking up the classic-rock station for all those soaring endless-youth choruses and twin-guitar harmonies and full-band jams with the sweet sweet musk of vinyl? Life imitated Dazed and Confused all over again as the Racs geared up for their summer tour with the first show of their sold-out two-night stand at the Cannery Ballroom.

The Raconteurs Live

Live shots from the first show at the Cannery Ballroom. Review to come. More photos after the jump. Photos by Rob Williams.

The Spin: Son Volt and Bobby Bare Jr.

It's not often that even the most promising shows can drag an audience out of their winter hibernation. Chalk it up to spring having sprung, or maybe it just took the right band, but the Exit/In last night was not a good place for the claustrophobic.