Spotlight: Graveyard - Nashville May 30th, 2014





Exit/In is an iconic Nashville music venue that boasts a proud history of performers from John Lee Hooker, Etta James and Johnny Cash to Clutch, Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Sword. That history is prominently displayed on the wall outside, the walls inside, and in the memories of tens of thousands of music fans that have visited.

Tonight, Swedish rockers Graveyard and fellow countrymen Bombus are in town to add their names to the mix.


With three studio albums under their belt (Graveyard 2007, Hisingen Blues 2011, Lights Out 2012) and a long road of successful live touring in their wake, the band has developed and grown quite a following of fans. Half a dozen friends warned me that their live show was amazing, and I was excited to finally get a chance to drink it all in.

And drink I did.



Orange gear littered the stage like a harbinger and the foursome took control right away in a no nonsense style, weaving deftly in and out of soulful, slow jams and heavy, power tracks. All of them clutching for your soul and demanding that you not only ride the retro vibe, but turn a mirror on yourself and start some serious, proper introspection. The lyrics are a shade darker in person, darker than the music, and I felt myself drawn in closer and closer to whatever is awaiting me at the end of the tunnel. No light, but the gold tooth in the devil's smile, Joakim might say.

I surely wasn't the only one drawn in. Dozens chanted, yelled, screamed and craved every song, every verse and every riff. Man, these fans were getting into berzerker mode at some point while I was looking deep inside myself. This crowd enjoyed themselves and I couldn't help but feel a warm nostalgia, thinking that the old smoky tendrils of Sabbath and Deep Purple were alive and embracing a new generation with a new vigor and a new depth. It was all old, and yet new and sickly wonderful.

Damn, what a show. And when the mist started to break a bit, the last yelling I heard was a fan bellowing, I told you this was the best band in the fucking world!".


It was a long ride home still pondering my fate along that wide road I have walked a thousand times. I don't know if that last dedicated fan was correct, but I placed my three Graveyard albums close to the turntable, ready to look into my black tunnel again very soon. 

Thank you guys. I want to drink again.


- Oldfatbroke

Comments

buck09 said…
Sounds amazing. Jealous. Nice write up!