Exile in Nashville | Liz Phair celebrates her groundbreaking debut at the Ryman.
Liz takes us back 30 years to when it all started sounding more confident and powerful than ever.
Liz Phair rose to prominence out of the underground indie scene of Chicago with her candidly raw and experimental Girlysound Tapes. The mystique brought about by the word-of-mouth spread of these cassettes landed Phair a record deal with Matador and would be the catalyst for her most critically acclaimed and landmark debut album Exile in Guyville. The name is a spin-off The Rolling Stone’s Exile on Main Street, which Liz song-by-song responds to on this project, focusing on her isolation as a female in the male-dominated realm of alternative/indie rock in the 90s. I have had the luck to see her live on 2 separate occasions before this tour. Both times her prowess on the guitar and openness made for a stellar performance.
For the past 3 tours, Liz has highlighted some up-and-coming female voices in alt-rock such as Soccer Mommy and Speedy Ortiz (who covered her little-known unreleased track “Blood Keeper”). For this round, she brought with her New York native Blondeshell to open up the show. Having not heard their music before this, I quickly became a fan of her gritty yet dreamy sound that brought to mind some of Mitski’s earlier work. We were even surprised by fellow alternative artist Samia (who has covered Phair’s “Never Said”) on a cover of Le Tigre’s “Deceptacon.”
Phair’s setlist walked through the entirety of Exile in Guyville from start to finish in order. Her show began on the dot at 8:40 pm. The stage was backlit by images conjuring up the mythos of the era through sheer screens. Liz’s entrance broke the tension that the guitar’s hum caused once she began the powerful opener “6' 1”.” Phair and the band were completely in sync. Not once did she miss a beat or chord from song to song. Although Liz’s frank lyricism is often the center of conversion, her skills as a guitarist are something to marvel at. I was in awe of the agility needed to shape the haunting and raw melodies that carry her words out to the audience. Never was this more noticeable than on the country rockers “Soap Star Joe” or “Johnny Sunshine.” The biggest highlight for me was hearing the slightly shoegaze-coded dreamer “Shatter.” With her blue Fender electric tuned to open E, Phair and her guitarist almost danced sonically side by side playing of the harmonies between each other. The song has always been my favorite, and she gave it a whole new life on stage.
On top of the band’s succinct sound, Liz’s stage presence was at an all-time high. She was talkative and playful making jokes about the ghosts of the old church the Ryman is in might not take kindly to the words of “Flower.” Liz also touched on how the nostalgia of revisiting this record reminded her of not only how far she had come, but how that same journey is being echoed through the lives of the main listeners in the crowd. Phair vocals, now richer and varied through years of songwriting and experimentation, gave each track the fragility and power needed to hit us in the same place they did 30 years prior. Fan favorites “Fuck and Run” and “Mesmerizing” set the crowd ablaze in song with Liz’s energy being the epicenter of this release. “Girls! Girls! Girls!” got a little facelift with the band giving it a much heavier and rock-forward tone.
The encore included a handful of fan-favorite hits that have been mainstays of Phair’s setlists for some time. While I was hoping that my personal favorite “Nashville” would make the encore (as she was in the city), we did “Spanish Doors” from her last album Soberish. I never tire hearing whitechocolatespaceegg’s “Polyester Bride” and “Johnny Feelgood,” which made an appearance towards the latter half of the encore.
It was an absolute blast hearing this landmark record front-to-back live. Phair and her band made for a spectacular show. If any anyway is wondering if she’s still got it, I’m here to let you know she never lost it. The biggest takeaway I got from this show was the sheer joy Liz got from returning to her roots. She beamed whilst performing every song. Her sense of pride and care towards these songs was inspiring. If you are a fan of her work and she’s in town, I highly recommend getting tickets. Maybe one day soon those orphans of Whipsmart and whitechocolatespaceegg with get their time in the sun and a nostalgic tour of their own.
