American Aquarium's White Water Tavern Shows Always a Great Communal Experience

by Julian Spivey

Julian Spivey Photo

 
Yes, we’re doing this again. No, this isn’t a repeat review.
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Seeing American Aquarium at the White Water Tavern in Little Rock, Ark., has become something of an annual tradition for my wife and I, to the point where I’ve jokingly (but in all seriousness) told AA’s frontman B.J. Barham that I now have more photos with him, taken post-show, than I do with my parents.

The band, with its raucous, sweat-drenched performances of hard-living songs that touch on everyday life themes, has a loyal following, and the most devoted among us pack into the small, hardwood-floored one-room tavern on the corner of West 7th St. and Thayer St. for a communal experience like no other.

The way Barham and the band switch out setlists, ensuring no two shows are going to be alike, is one of the reasons we keep coming back to see them – counting a B.J. Barham solo show earlier this year, this was the sixth time in a year and a half I’ve seen the group.

Surprisingly, there are still American Aquarium songs I’ve yet to see live in person, and two such songs were live debuts for me on Tuesday night (Sept. 2) at the WWT in “Southern Sadness” off 2015’s Wolves, and “I Gave Up The Drinking (Before She Gave Up On Me),” off 2018’s Things Change.

There are, of course, the fan-favorites the band plays at every show, that you definitely want the band to keep playing every time you see them, like the epic one-two closing punch of “I Hope He Breaks Your Heart” and “Burn.Flicker.Die,” which may have developed into my ultimate favorite AA song.

“Losing Side of Twenty-Five” leading directly into “Wolves,” another one-two punch staple of the band’s live shows, has also become one of my all-time favorite live show moments.

Barham has a great love for the White Water Tavern, the first venue outside of his home state of North Carolina that really took a chance on the band when they were first kicking around and always makes sure the audience and the owners of the establishment know his appreciation at each show – and he’ll even talk about his love for it when playing at other establishments around town. He’s even written multiple songs mentioning the White Water Tavern,” including the rapturous “Rattlesnake” and the tear-in-a-beer weeper “Bigger In Texas,” which the band played back-to-back on Tuesday night.

Shelby Stone, a singer-songwriter from Fort Worth, Texas, opened the evening with an eight-song set showcasing her powerful voice, some great selections of cover songs and an adorable chattiness on stage that probably comes from awkward anxiety, but makes her incredibly endearing.

She seemed to be really into the White Water Tavern crowd in her debut at the venue, to the point of sharing some vulnerability she admitted she doesn’t often show on stage in playing the heart-wrenching “All I Ever Wanted,” which she wrote about her suffering from an eating disorder. It certainly led to some wet eyes among the audience and one of the biggest ovations of the evening.