2022 in Concerts

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Living in Perth had many perks, but the biggest downside was the lack of live music. Since moving home from Australia, I've been making up for lost time and seeing as many shows as I can. It was fitting that my first run of shows back was to see Bright Eyes, my longtime fave, who were touring in support of their long-awaited record Down in the Weeds Where the World Once Was, released at the beginning of the pandemic. Here's a list of what I saw in 2022.

The Bright Eyes Tour


1. Bright Eyes with Christian Lee Hutson at the Sylvee, Madison, WI 3-25-22

2. Bright Eyes with Christian Lee Hutson at the Chicago Theatre, Chicago, IL 3-26-22

3. Bright Eyes with Christian Lee Hutson at the Pageant, Saint Louis, MO 3-30-22

4. Bright Eyes with Christian Lee Hutson at Old Forester's Paristown Hall, Louisville, KY 3-31-22

5. Christian Lee Hutson album release in-store performance at Grimey's in Nashville, TN 4-1-22

    Best day ever. We ran into Christian in our hotel in Louisville and wished him a happy album release day. He mentioned they were starting their drive to the in-store in Nashville and so we headed there, too. We saw him play a fantastic acoustic set. I embarrassed myself by dropping my phone loudly during the set, but he consoled me about it later in the autograph line. CLH has rapidly become one of my favorite songwriters since he dropped his record Beginners in 2020, so this run of shows was kind of a dream come true.

6. Bright Eyes with Christian Lee Hutson at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN 4-1-22

    My first show at the Ryman! Turned out to be pretty spectacular and dramatic. Conor called out the Ryman for hanging onto Confederate nostalgia and the Nashville music scene in general for capitalizing on music pioneered by Black musicians while not giving Black artists opportunities. I am not sure he'll be invited back to the venue, which was a bummer for me since I was about to move to Tennessee. Time will tell.

7. Bright Eyes with Hurray for the Riff Raff at the Factory in Deep Ellum, Dallas, TX 5-20-22

    I met a bunch of great people in line at this show, and Yvonne and I went out for drinks with them after and have stayed in touch.

8. Bright Eyes with Hurray for the Riff Raff at ACL Live at the Moody Theatre, Austin, TX 5-21-22

9. Bright Eyes with Hurray for the Riff Raff at the White Oak Music Hall, Houston, TX 5-22-22

    This is sort of the show that never happened. Conor came out and the band performed "Dance and Sing" and "Lover I Don't Have to Love" and then Conor said he would be right back, but didn't. The band came back out after a break and did a few songs of "Bright Eyes karaoke", picking people out of the crowd and letting them sing with the band. It was strange and we were all worried about Conor. Afterward, a band member told me he was sick but would be fine. The venue officially cancelled the show and refunded our tickets. It was a down note to end the three-night run on, but I'm looking forward to the next opportunity to see them play.

Quick Trip to Omaha

10. Phoebe Bridgers at the Waiting Room Outdoors in Omaha, NE 6-1-22

    The venue mismanaged the long-ass line to get into this show so badly that, despite arriving an hour before doors, we missed the entire opener. Charlie Hickey opened, and I had really wanted to see him. I'm still mad at the Waiting Room about it. But I connected with some Phoebe fans I only knew from our online interactions, and we went to Pageturners after the show. It was a great show. I am kind of in mourning over how big she's gotten, though. I will miss those little shows at small venues forever.

Settling into Tennessee

11. Simon Joyner at the Pilot Light in Knoxville, TN on 7-23-22

    My first Knoxville show! Simon Joyner, of Omaha fame, at a tiny venue downtown.

12. The Decemberists at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN on 8-27-22

    I've seen the Decemberists a bunch of times in a bunch of different states and on two continents, so it was cool to open this Tennessee chapter with another Decemberists show. The band was sort of on a 20th anniversary tour, but it had been delayed by two years because of the pandemic. The crowd did quite the singalong at the end, with "Hear all the bombs fade away" ringing pretty loudly through that old venue.

13. The Mountain Goats at the Bijou in Knoxville, TN on 9-21-22

    I never miss a chance to see JD and company, and they put on a fantastic show. One of my friends from the BE show in Dallas came to town for it and we had dinner and drinks before the show. Music is the best way to build community.

14. John Moreland at the Bijou in Knoxville, TN on 10-4-22

    My first John Moreland show! Fun to see an Oklahoma singer-songwriter in Tennessee.

15. Ani DiFranco at the Bijou in Knoxville, TN on 10-5-22

    Ani wrote one of my favorite songs, "Untouchable Face". The opening act was this bizarre band called Bitch. Unforgettable, but not great.


The 2022 Ryman Residency

I have been deep into Jason Isbell's music since I was recommended his music the day after he played Saint Paul on the Nashville Sound tour in 2017. Since then, I've mostly been in Australia during a pandemic, so opportunities were few. I really capitalized on his Ryman Residency this year, attending seven of the eight nights.

16. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at the Ryman in Nashville, TN on 10-14-22

    First Jason show in the books! Peter One opened.

17. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at the Ryman in Nashville, TN on 10-15-22

    Grace Group Gospel Choir opened. They sang mostly in Swahili, which was neat. The songs were mostly Christian hymns, which was less neat.

18. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at the Ryman in Nashville, TN on 10-16-22

    Vagabon opened.

19. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at the Ryman in Nashville, TN on 10-19-22

    Leyla McCalla opened.

20. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at the Ryman in Nashville, TN on 10-21-22

    Amanda Shires opened this one, and played fiddle with the 400 Unit. Jason and Amanda's daughter Mercy came out to sing vocals on "Galaxy" in Amanda's set, and Jason also came out to feature on guitar in that song. Amanda's set was amazing.

    After the show, I waited around outside with some new friends and got to meet Jason. He signed the setlist I had filled out during the show. We chatted about Amanda's upcoming show at the Bijou; he didn't mention, then, that he was about to announce two shows at the Bijou himself.

21. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at the Ryman in Nashville, TN on 10-22-22

    Hermanos Gutierrez opened. They were cool.

22. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at the Ryman in Nashville, TN on 10-23-22

    Cimafunk opened. It was one of the most spectacular opening acts I've ever seen. People were clambering onstage at the band's invitation to have a dance party. Ryman security staff was not pleased.

Knoxville, Atlanta, Omaha

23. Todd Snider with Tommy Prine at the Bijou in Knoxville, TN on 11-16-22

    I went into Todd Snider cold. I didn't know any of his songs. It was an entertaining show - he told interesting stories - but I don't think this catalog is going to be my thing. But the best thing was Tommy Prine, son of legendary John Prine, who played a set of originals to open the show and made me cry by singing one about his dad's death. I'm excited about his forthcoming debut record.

24. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at the Bijou, Knoxville, TN on 12-14-22

    Night one of two advertised as very special nights. The very special part turned out to be that they were playing the album Southeastern in its entirety and filming/recording it for a future release. I got to hear "Yvette"!!

25. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at the Bijou, Knoxville, TN on 12-15-22

    Night two of the Southeastern celebration.

26. Jason Isbell and Will Welch - "An evening of conversation and song" at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, GA on 12-17-22

    Stephanie and I roadtripped down to Atlanta for this one. Jason played 7 songs, of which one was the live debut of the song "King of Oklahoma" that he wrote while filming Killers of the Flower Moon on the Osage Reservation. I'm so excited to see the movie, and to hear the album.

27. Amanda Shires at the Bijou in Knoxville, TN on 12-19-22

    This show had been rescheduled after one of the band members had covid earlier in the tour and couldn't play the Knoxville show. I was stoked to hear Take It Like a Man live, which has rapidly become my favorite of Amanda's works. Jason sat in on guitar, which was very exciting for me. Shortly before the show was set to happen, Cory Branan was added to the bill. Cory played a spectacular acoustic set and I really enjoyed his guitar work. Looking forward to digging more into his songs in the near future.

28. Live band Christmas Carol-oke with Roger Lewis and the Peppermints featuring Conor Oberst in Omaha, NE on 12-22-22

    I'm putting this here because I went to see Phil, Roger, Jim Schroeder et al. play Christmas carols at Pageturners and CO turned up. He played harmonica and sang backing vocals for bar patrons doing renditions of Christmas songs. It totally counts. This is why I love being in Omaha at the holidays.

29. Universe Contest, Those Far Out Arrows, Breakers, and Vera Devorah at Reverb, Omaha, NE 12-26-22

30. Oquoa, Mesonjixx, and David Nance & Mowed Sound at Waiting Room, Omaha, NE 12-30-22

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