Show Review: MewithoutYou at Exit/In, Nashville 6/23/10
10:30pm CST, Exit/In, Nashville, TN: Show openers Rubik and David Bazan have just finished sets that stand firmly at opposing poles of rock, and now the MewithoutYou crew ambles nonchalantly on stage, checking tunings and asking for last-minute monitor tweaks. A surprisingly clean-cut Aaron Weiss adjusts his awkward, oversized glasses, shifts his acoustic guitar, and they launch into “The Fox, the Crow, and the Cookie” off their newest record, It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All a Dream! It’s Alright.
I love this song, but it’s from the tamer end of their catalog. I wanna hear some screaming. Hell, I wanna do some screaming. And as the fox and crow give way to Brother, Sister’s “C-Minor” followed by “Messes of Men,” I think, Ahh, here we go…
This song pairing raises the room’s energy as the band lays deeper into their groove. “Goodbye, I!” brings a moment of irony as the lyrics command, “We stand completely still, we all stand completely still.” Nope. Not here. People are moving, which is such a rarity in Nashville. This is probably the most motion and excitement I’ve seen in years. And then come the pummeling eighth notes of their classic “January 1979,” falling off into the loping tune “The Sun & The Moon.”
The dude in front of me won’t stop flailing his elbows. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna clock me at some point, but he just looks so happy. He knows the words to every song. And then Aaron dons an accordion for one of the only low-key moments all night, just before pushing into “A Glass Can Only Spill What It Contains.” Flailing dude is gonna lose his mind. “Allah, Allah, Allah,” includes an unexpected visit from Rubik’s trombone players as well as Michael Weiss fitfully ripping off his shirt sleeves. With his semi-fro hair and sweat-soaked and torn shirt he bears a humorous resemblance to Lou Ferrigno.
And then the closing song: “In a Sweater Poorly Knit.” This is one of my favorites, only made better when Rubik’s seven members join the stage bearing trombones, shakers, tambourines, and a variety of other noise makers. Then it’s all over, Aaron’s clear about that. But the house lights stay down and incite an encore rally that draws the band tentatively back on stage.
“We didn’t really have anything else planned,” Weiss states. It’s obvious. But they pull together a version of “The Angel of Death Came to David’s Room.” Rickie, their drummer, doesn’t come back, though, so this final tune leaves a less satisfying taste in my mouth. It’s disappointing, in fact. Rickie’s a lot of fun to watch, and he really would have made the this song punch. Oh well…the rest of the show was incredible. It’s midn
