THE WORD ON POP CULTURE
  • Home
  • Movies
  • TV
  • Music
  • Sports
  • Pop Culture History
  • Shop

American Aquarium Open November Run of Shows with Fantastic Rev Room Performance

11/3/2024

0 Comments

 
by Julian Spivey
Picture: B.J. Barham of American Aquarium
Julian Spivey Photo
American Aquarium opened its November tour with a stop at the Revolution Room in Little Rock, Ark., on Friday, November 1, for a fantastic night of rock music.

It was a bit of a cathartic experience seeing the band, one of my favorites, just a few days before the Presidential Election, almost certainly the most important one of my lifetime, with songs like “The World Is on Fire” that speak on the choices this country has made in the past and the impact they’ve had on us.

Few songwriters these days are as empathetic to the plight of the American middle class as AA frontman B.J. Barham, who, as he says in his song “Tough Folks,” comes from a long line of Carolina farmers and writes music full of small-town life and the dark side of it.  

The band kicked off the set with “Crier,” the first single released off its latest album The Fear of Standing Still, which tells us all that it’s OK to be a crier but with the force of rock & roll behind it. We’ve all felt pain in our lifetime, and holding back tears can only lead to more of it.

The band would perform four songs from the latest album, which dropped in late July: “Messy as a Magnolia,” “The Curse of Growing Old,” and, my favorite, “Cherokee Purples.” Before “The Curse of Growing Old,” Barham told a touching story about one of his grandmothers and her 91st birthday, upon which she told him how much pain and loss she’s had to go through to spend more years with him. It immediately occurred to him that growing old can be a curse as much, if not more, of a gift.

As with any American Aquarium show, the band does a fantastic job at mixing in songs from its entire history and hit the Rev Room audience on Friday night with a mixture of new from albums like Things Change and Lamentations and old from Burn.Flicker.Die and Wolves.

The audience of loyal fans sang along with nearly every song the entire night, with performances of “Losing Side of Twenty-Five,” “Casualties” and “The Luckier You Get” among the crowd favorites.

One of the greatest live music moments I’ve ever been a part of is seeing the band wind down the main part of their set with the back-to-back performances of “I Hope He Breaks Your Heart” and “Burn.Flicker.Die,” which always seem to be the most raucous moments of the show. You’d honestly have to experience it to understand how great of a moment it is.

This is where the night took an unfortunate turn, though. I’m not sure if the whole audience knew what was happening, but those around the stage, including Barham on stage, were all too aware of it.

Following “Burn.Flicker.Die” the band left the stage to give Barham his usual solo spot of the show – a spot where he usually tells a beautiful story about something in his life that has inspired a song and then plays said song. Based on the original set list, which we were close enough to the stage to see, Barham intended to perform “The First Year” off the 2022 album Chicamacomico. He called an audible and decided to do the title track from that album, which is about a miscarriage he and his wife had and how it devastated them. He had gotten a handful of requests to perform the song. He tells this heart-wrenching, tragic story of the worst thing that’s ever happened to him and his wife and then performs the song. While telling the story and performing the song, solo, just his voice and guitar, an obviously drunk woman somewhere close behind where I stood, so near the stage, talked loudly throughout the entire thing.

Following the song, he thanked most of the audience for their cooperation and response to his sad story and song and said, “For those who talked through it, that was a choice.” Which was a far kinder way to handle the nuisance within the crowd than many musicians likely would have chosen. Still, based on the printed setlist on the stage, he decided to skip a second solo song and invited the band back to the stage early. I also believe this to be the case because the band didn’t seem to know they’d be returning so soon.

The band began to perform “Me + Mine (Lamentations),” another emotional, heartful performance, and the same drunken woman talked throughout it, as well, at one point causing Barham to shoot an annoying glare her way that might’ve knocked someone who wasn’t so oblivious to the ground.

The show ended with that song, despite a more raucous closing number, “Katherine Belle,” remaining on the printed setlist.

In my years attending shows, I’ve seen some pretty annoying and despicable behavior from drunk concertgoers, but I’ve never witnessed something as rudely infuriating as one talking through the most devastating song of someone’s career. I sincerely hope this doesn’t put Barham and the band off of coming to the Rev Room in the future.

The evening was opened up by the emotional songs of Ken Pomeroy, a 22-year-old Cherokee folk singer from Oklahoma whose beautifully written songs ache with the realism of someone much older. She’s undoubtedly going to be a singer-songwriter to keep an eye on.
American Aquarium Setlist Revolution Music Room, Little Rock, AR, USA 2024, The Fear of Standing Still
Edit this setlist | More American Aquarium setlists
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    October 2011
    September 2011
    March 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    April 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010


​
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Movies
  • TV
  • Music
  • Sports
  • Pop Culture History
  • Shop