I am a couple of days late with the review, but I was busy drinking wine in Napa. :)

The good first:

It was great to see KOL so energetic once again!
There’ve been times when it was obvious that they were going through the motions. But at Bottlerock, they were in tiptop shape. Everyone was rocking and having a good time.

The crowd was smaller than it was for The Black Keys the night before, but people were enjoying themselves and dancing, and some were singing along.

The newer songs were denifitely received better than the older material. I thought that “The Immortals” really got people going, and there was lots of sing-along going on. Of course “Sex On Fire” went over the best, with everyone going nuts, and then “Use Somebody” had everyone belting it out at the top of their lungs.

For me personally, “Knocked Up” and “Black Thumbnail” were the best parts of the show. I love “Knocked Up” in general, and I particularly love it live. And people, although not familiar with the song, really responded and were waving their arms in the air and “woohooing” along to Caleb. It was pretty awesome. “Black Thumbnail” was another standout, simply because it was a great closer to the show, and ended everything with a bang.

The wistful sad:

The band certainly grew up. And it’s a business now.
Sometimes, I wish for the good ol’ times, when everything was a little more spontaneous and you didn’t quite know how things would go.
Now it’s a well oiled machine.

No more shots on stage.
That era is over.
No more Nacho coming with a red Solo cup, and Caleb throwing it back, followed by a rant of some kind.
That made me sad. I wonder if we’ll see that ever again.

The bad:

The light show. Good Lord. Whoever designed that monstrosity should be fired.
Firstly, the strobe lights, pulsating wildly WILL give someone a siezure one day, if they didn’t already. Secondly, they really take away from the show and the music.
They really need to cool it with the strobes.

Also, for peope who aren’t up close, the whole light show is pretty pointless, because the band becomes overwhelmed by the lights, and with almost no close-ups, it doesn’t create any kind of intimacy with the band.

Hope they re-think the light show.

Overall—it was great to see the guys once again, in better spirits and seemingly excited.
The new song was a nice bonus, but I did feel that the show lacked a certain level of surprise. The set list was okay, but somewhat predictable, and with no other surprises except for the new song, I was wishing for more. It was also kind of OBTN heavy, with “Closer”, “Revelry”, “Notion”, “USE”, “Crawl” and SOF” dominating the set list.

Final Grade: B++

With our concerts, festivals and benefit shows, Nashville sure knows how to put on a star-studded affair. But the Music City Eats: Nashville Food, Wine & Spirits Festival, which will make its debut Sept. 21-22, showcases stars of a different sort in a city increasingly recognized for its food scene.

Along with a lineup hosted by Kings of Leon, the Cabin Down Below Band and other special guests for Petty Fest Nashville (a tribute to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), the festival brings to town a host of acclaimed chefs such as John Besh of New Orleans, Tom Colicchio of New York City, Nancy Silverton of Los Angeles and Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis, along with local favorites including Tandy Wilson of City House, Josh Habiger and Erik Anderson of The Catbird Seat and recent James Beard Award winner Joseph Lenn of The Barn at Blackberry Farm, among many others.

“To me, it’s very Nashville-style,” said Wilson, who added that the timing is right for a major food festival here both in terms of sophistication of the food scene and the diners who appreciate it. “You don’t have a big get-together if everybody isn’t on board. It takes all the elements to make something happen.”

The festival is produced by Caleb and Nathan Followill of Kings of Leon, world-renowned chef Jonathan Waxman, Vector Management’s Ken Levitan and Andy Mendelsohn, and C3 Presents (whose festival production credentials include Austin City Limits Music Festival, Lollapalooza, and the Austin FOOD & WINE Festival).

Music City Eats will take place over a Saturday and Sunday at Public Square Park festival grounds with cooking demos, panel discussions, book signings and the Flavors of Nashville event, where the city’s top chefs will serve their dishes. A new batch of chefs and restaurants will dish up a Revival Brunch on Sept. 22.

A signature event of Music City Eats will be Harvest Night and Petty Fest at War Memorial Plaza and Auditorium on Sept. 21. Harvest Night will offer attendees the opportunity to sample dishes from across the country before attending the concert. Tickets for the festival go on sale Friday at www.musiccityeats.com.

The festival is the brainchild of Caleb Followill with help from Waxman.

“Oddly enough, we’re big foodies,” Followill said. “We’ve traveled the world and get to eat a lot of great stuff. I came back home to here in Nashville, and I was sitting outside and trying figure out where to go eat.”

He wondered how he could get some of his chef friends to Nashville, and the idea for a festival came to him.

“I called my manager immediately,” he said. But as the festival has developed, Followill said he also considered restaurants such asThe Silly Goose, City House and The Catbird Seat.

“It wasn’t just about bringing chefs to Nashville, I also wanted to bring them to Nashville to see how great the food is,” he said.

Followill also has spent plenty of time at Waxman’s Barbuto, having had a place a block away from the New York restaurant. He found his way into the restaurant one day, and “for the next six months, I couldn’t get rid of them,” Waxman said of Followill and wife Lily Aldridge. Waxman invited the couple to a staff lunch of tacos, even, and they began to form a friendship.

“We just love talking about life from music to food to politics to anything,” he said.

The conversation turned to Nashville and its lack of a major food festival of this sort.

Over time, Waxman said, “The whole thing sort of fell into place.”

“I think it’s going to be a celebration of Nashville,” Followill said.

Flavors of Nashville
The Flavors of Nashville portion of the festival will celebrate a variety of well-respected local chefs and cuisines from high to low culture, including Anderson and Habiger (The Catbird Seat); Carey Bringle (Pegleg Porker); Matt Farley (The Southern); Sarah Gavigan (Otaku South); Lenn (The Barn at Blackberry Farm); Pat Martin (Martin’s Barbecue); Deb Paquette (Etch); Giovanni Pinato (Giovanni Ristorante); Barclay Stratton (Merchants); Wilson (City House); and more to be announced.

“I think that’s one of the things we’re awesome about,” Wilson said of the local community. “We just look for the good food. I think that’s the same thing with music. Are we known for country music? Yes, but look at what’s changed in music, too.”

Featured chefs at Saturday’s Harvest Night will include: Besh (Besh Restaurant, New Orleans); Colicchio (Craft Restaurants and Riverpark, New York City); De Laurentiis (chef and TV personality); Mike Lata (FIG, The Ordinary, Charleston, S.C.); Edward Lee (610 Magnolia and Milkwood, Louisville); Donald Link (Herbsaint, Cochon, Butcher, Calcasieu, Peche, New Orleans); Tim Love (The Lonesome Dove, Queenie’s, Woodshed Smokehouse, Love Shack, White Elephant Saloon; Fort Worth, Texas); Aaron Sanchez (Mestizo, New York City); Jon Shook & Vinny Dotolo (Animal, Son of a Gun, Los Angeles); Nancy Silverton (Pizzeria Mozza and Osteria Mozza, Los Angeles); Michael Symon (Lola, Lolita, Roast, B Spot, Cleveland); Waxman; and Trisha Yearwood (singer and host of “Trisha’s Southern Kitchen” on Food Network).

Bringing chefs of that caliber to the city only adds to Nashville’s culinary education and credibility.

“The community aspect of it is great,” Wilson said. “That’s how you learn things — making connections with chefs from other areas as well as seeing what your neighborhoods are cooking.”

And just as musicians have migrated to Nashville after stints in cities such as Los Angeles and New York, the same is happening with chefs, Waxman said.

“I think that’s what’s happening to America as a whole. It’s not just about New York, L.A. and Chicago anymore. America’s growing up in a culinary sense.”

Music and food connection
Gavigan of Otaku South makes for a perfect example as she has a foot in both worlds of music and food. The music supervisor was the brains behind the popular Otaku South pop-up concept in Los Angeles before moving back to Nashville near her home of Columbia, Tenn.

“There is no better place for the convergence of the culinary arts and music than Nashville,” Gavigan said. “I am ecstatic to see Nashville take its place on the national stage as a food destination. Music City Eats will be a huge catalyst in making that happen.”

As for other natural connections between music and food, Waxman, a former trombone player, said chefs and musicians practice a lot. They pay dues in tough gigs. They learn scales and fundamentals before they can improvise, and then they sometimes become their own bosses. Finally, there’s the creative aspects in writing a song and creating a dish.

“I just think food and music go hand in hand,” Followill said. “I thought for a long time I was going to be a chef. I still consider myself a pretty good home cook. But a lot of times when you meet a chef … I hate when people throw around the term rock star … but they do have an air about them that they’re in control of the situation and everyone wants to go and eat their food.”

Wilson said music certainly fuels his kitchen. “I know that’s not for everybody, but it certainly is for me,” he said. “If I didn’t have music and coffee I wouldn’t be anywhere.”

Waxman added that Nashville has a lot of great infrastructure and “a population now that’s hungry.”

So after the festival could we talk Waxman into opening a restaurant here?

“I don’t think you have to talk me into it,” he said. “It’s one thing I’ve been sort of thinking about.”

“It’s a great town. It’s really festive and fun and a great atmosphere. So many great farms are here and so many resources.”

So far Bottlerock isn’t my favorite festival, due primarily to logistics. Or lack there of, by the organizers. Calling getting in and out of it a ‘shit show’ is being complimentary.
But, The Black Keys brought the house down. Pretty amazing, as always. Nothing much needs to be said.
Alabama Shakes. My Lord. That woman. If ‘soul’ could be bottled up and sold, she has enough for the whole world. If you can see Alabama Shakes live, DO IT. Don’t ask questions and just do it.
The Shins. Not impressed at all.I was looking forward to seeing them and they were just bland and uninteresting. And his voice was torturous.

Onto KOL TONIGHT.