Six Nights, Three Venues, and a Whiplash Genre Tour
Some weeks the Lexington calendar picks a lane. This is not one of those weeks. From Tuesday through Sunday, Aug 11–16, the city serves up nu-metal, alt-country, one-hit-wonder nostalgia and a couple of local wildcards, sometimes on the same night, and if you can survive the tonal whiplash you'll have seen just about every corner of the map. Here's your itinerary.
Tuesday, Aug 11 — Nonpoint, Spineshank and (Hed) P.E. at Manchester Music Hall. The week opens loud. This is a full-throated nu-metal triple bill parking itself inside the city's largest independent room, 1,100 capacity on Manchester Street. Doors are at 6:30, show at 7:30, and it's all ages — so if there's a teenager in your house who needs their ears rearranged, this is a rite of passage with a chaperone-friendly start time. Come early; three bands means the first riff lands sooner than you think.
Wednesday, Aug 12 — a two-fer. Out at The Burl, Trey Hedrick takes the stage at 7pm, a lower-key roots night in the Distillery District. Across town at Manchester Music Hall, The Ex-Faces plug in at 8pm. Two venues, two very different volumes, one Wednesday — pick your poison or, if you're ambitious and quick behind the wheel, catch a little of both.
Thursday, Aug 13 — the night the week peaks. This is a genuine fork in the road. At the Lexington Opera House, country star Chris Young headlines the historic sub-1,000-seat room on Short Street, the marquee ticket of the whole stretch. Meanwhile, out at The Burl, alt-country institution Robbie Fulks plays a 7pm show for the folks who want their twang with a sharper, more literate edge. Chris Young for the big-voice country night, Fulks for the songwriter's songwriter — you truly cannot go wrong, but you can only be in one place, so choose with your heart.
Saturday, Aug 15 — Sixpence None the Richer at The Burl, 8pm. Yes, that Sixpence. "Kiss Me," the soundtrack of roughly every late-'90s slow dance, live in a 300-cap room. It's the kind of pairing — massive nostalgia, tiny venue — that The Burl has made a specialty of all summer. Expect this one to be tight quarters and full hearts. Don't dawdle on tickets.
Sunday, Aug 16 — garrettboys at The Burl, 6pm. The week winds down where a lot of this summer lived, back at The Burl for an early-evening set from garrettboys. A 6pm start on a Sunday is practically civilized — a graceful landing after six days of genre-hopping, and a chance to be home at a reasonable hour before the work week resumes.
A quick note for the completists: as much as we'd love to point you to a hometown album or EP dropping this weekend, there isn't a verified Lexington local release landing in this window, so we won't pretend otherwise. What there is — a metal blowout, dueling Wednesdays, a Thursday you'll have to agonize over, and two Burl nights to bookend the whole thing — is plenty.
That's the beauty of a Lexington August. In a single six-night stretch you can headbang on Manchester Street, get literate with Robbie Fulks, belt "Kiss Me" in a room the size of your living room and still make it to an early Sunday set. Pace yourself, hydrate, and pick your battles. Six nights, three venues, and just about every genre we've got — see you in the crowd.
Sources: Manchester Music Hall Events; The Burl — Bandsintown