There’s been a bit of a tour shakeup since we last brought you news of Bad Religion performing in Nashville. Florida punks Against Me! were originally slated to support the punk rock pioneers, but dropped out at the last minute due to an inability to find a replacement for drummer Jay Weinberg, who recently left the band. The Bronx have been added to the tour as a replacement, but won’t be joining until Friday’s performance in Washington, DC. Instead, tonight’s performance at War Memorial Auditorium will see a special one-off replacement from Nashville transplants The Whigs. Opening artists Polar Bear Club are still scheduled to perform as well.
Though the lack of Against Me! is certainly a bummer, and the addition of The Whigs makes it a bit of a random bill, we still think Bad Religion alone are more than enough to justify an outing at War Memorial this evening. The other two great bands are simply icing on the cake!
This marks Bad Religion’s first and, likely, only performance ever in Nashville. The band has been flirting with the idea of retiring for several years now (they already have other time-consuming occupations- including label executive and college professor), and have stated that when they do, there won’t be any fanfare, so much as simply hanging it up. The band has been making music for 34 years now and their latest (and sixteenth) album, True North, has been rumored as their possible last.
Hailing from Nashville by way of Athens, GA, The Whigs were are the forefront of the mid- ’00s garage rock revival movement, and continue to churn out amazing, engaging indie rock year after year. Combining post-hardcore with modern underground emo sensibilities, Rochester’s Polar Bear Club are one of the most refreshing bands to come out of the modern punk scene.
Bad Religion, The Whigs, and Polar Bear Club are performing tonight at War Memorial Auditorium. The show kicks off at 7PM (doors at 6PM), it’s all ages, and you can find more information here.
