After going to over 300 shows over the last couple of years going to shows in town at the regular venues has moved beyond boring and more towards unbearable. To spark the flame of enjoying shows again I traveled into the mountains of North Carolina Wednesday night for some new scenery and some new faces.
Located just 30 minutes outside of Asheville in the small valley town of Marshall is Marshall High Studios. A haunting old high school encircled by the French Broad River on Blanahassett Island that has since been renovated into art space. Bonnie Prince Billy was the first show held in the old high school since it’s opening in 2007. The old auditorium was converted into a concert hall filled half full with seating and the rest standing room only. Large windows framed the room, the seals filled with flowers and lined by strung up lights to give the room feeling, along with a light show of outerspace and planets filling the ceiling. The outdoor patio behind the school served as the bar for the night that stuck to wine and three types of Sierra Nevada.
Bonnie Prince Billy played for over 2 hours through his extensive catalog, one song flowing seamlessly into another. For a casual fan as I am, it was easy to get lost. Even for more hardcore Will Oldham fans, I’m not sure that they weren’t lost at times. I might have recognized 4 or 5 songs total that he played and as I looked around I didn’t see many people singing along. This isn’t to say that the show wasn’t enjoyable. Oldham is a performer, awkward, yet strangely comforting most of the time. His set, just like his songs was filled with straight forward sexual innuendo and movements.
Since March I’ve been to 3 great shows in Asheville including Destroyer/War on Drugs, Mountain Goats/Megafaun, and Bonnie Prince Billy. Best part about all of them is that I got to hang out with my new friend Rob. We met through some common friends over some dark beers and we have seen each other and hung out at every show I’ve been to since we met before Destroyer. So if you see a tall dude with a red beard with a Braves hat on in Asheville be sure to say Hi to him.