Fruit Bats bring 'The Landfill' to the Basement East next Wednesday

Eric D. Johnson's full-band tour behind the project's twelfth album reaches East Nashville on Nov. 18, days from the end of the run.

By the time Fruit Bats load in on Woodland Street next week, they'll have been on the road behind this record since June. Fruit Bats play The Basement East on Wednesday, Nov. 18, with music at 8 p.m. The room holds about 400, and tickets are through Ticketmaster.

The Nashville stop comes near the end of a long year. The band has a Brooklyn date tomorrow, Nov. 11, and Pittsburgh on Nov. 12 before heading south. The tour schedule then runs to Tipitina's in New Orleans on Nov. 20 and wraps at Mohawk in Austin on Nov. 21. That means a Wednesday at the Beast is one of the last chances to catch this version of the show.

The record is *The Landfill*, which Merge Records released on June 12. Fruit Bats is Eric D. Johnson's project, and Atwood Magazine called the new album the twelfth Fruit Bats record and one of its most vibrant full-band statements yet. The title track was the lead single, and "Think Aboutcha", which mixes memory, love and heartache, followed in the spring. It's a turn from last year's *Baby Man*, which JamBase described as intimate. This tour is billed as a full-band run, so expect the louder, bigger version of these songs rather than a quiet solo set.

A full-band record, five months of road behind it, in a 400-cap room on a Wednesday.

The room has earned its place in this story. On March 3, 2020, the EF-3 tornado that tore through East Nashville leveled The Basement East's front wall, and the club was close to a total loss. The "I Believe in Nashville" mural on the side of the building survived, and for a while it was what most of the country saw of East Nashville. With help from the Paycheck Protection Program the club rebuilt and reopened on March 4, 2021, a year and a day after the storm. A year later, the Academy of Country Music named it Club of the Year.

That makes it a good fit for a band like Fruit Bats, which has always lived somewhere between indie rock and the country side of folk. Our listing tags the show as country, indie and rock, and in a town that sorts music into categories all day, a 400-person room on the east side is where those lines blur.

Some notes for the night. An 8 p.m. weeknight start means you can catch the whole set and still make a Thursday morning. A room this size for a band this deep into its catalog tends to sell out late, so don't count on the door. Come early, get a spot near the front, and listen to a band at the end of a long run, playing like it.

Sources: Fruit Bats Schedule 2026 Tour Supporting New Album 'The Landfill' (JamBase) (jambase.com); Fruit Bats announce new LP The Landfill, tour, share title track (BrooklynVegan) (brooklynvegan.com); Atwood Chats With Fruit Bats (A Man A Plan A Canal) (amanaplanacanal.com); Fruit Bats Blends Memory, Love, And Heartache Into 'Think Aboutcha' (Wildfire Music) (wildfiremusic.net); Fruit Bats Announce Intimate New Album 'Baby Man' (JamBase) (jambase.com); How the Basement East Built Back (Rolling Stone) (rollingstone.com); The Basement East To Reopen Tomorrow (MusicRow) (musicrow.com); The Basement East wins ACM Club of the Year award (NewsChannel 5) (newschannel5.com); Ticketmaster / TicketWeb (ticketmaster.evyy.net)