Get Down Friday

The Story of My Friday, Part 2: The Second Part

If you had told me on Friday afternoon that the turnaround to what had been a fairly crappy day would be watching a couple of shirtless, pasty dudes jump around by the pool at Opryland Hotel, I'd have thought you were high. But it turns out that is exactly what happened.

The first sign that my Friday was about to get better was about 6:15, when I left work earlier than I thought I'd be able to. That meant I had just enough time to go home, change clothes, and head out to Poolapalooza, the free concert series/pool party that Opryland Hotel is hosting this summer. If you're from around these parts, you know that Opryland isn't usually a destination for seeing local rock acts, but they had a great lineup Friday evening, so I figured I'll try anything once. It turns out the Gaylord folks have put together a really fun event. Kudos to them.

I got there just after The Nobility had kicked things off. Despite the fact that they play a fairly jaunty brand of pop music, they seemed to have a hard time connecting with the crowd. Whether it was their self-depreciating wit or the fact that rock concerts just aren't meant to happen when it's still daylight, people definitely seemed more interested in the pool than the band for most of their set.

By the time De Novo Dahl took the stage just after 8, they had the benefit of twilight, so the atmosphere was much more conducive to a rock show. I'm not sure if anyone else in attendance was trying to fight off the blues that evening, but if they were, DND were just what the doctor ordered. Sometime during the 1-2 punch of "Shout" and their cover of Rod Stewart's "Young Turks," I'd completely forgotten that the better part of my day had pretty much sucked. By the end of their set, they'd managed to draw a diverse crowd of curious locals, chlorine soaked tourists and conventioneers. It made for a surprisingly great start to the weekend.

De Novo Dahl - "Shout" (mp3) from Move Every Muscle, Make Every Sound
The Nobility - "Halleluiah Chorus" (mp3) from The Mezzanine

Photo by Lance Conzett. The rest of his pics from Friday night can be seen here.