On Friday, February 2, 2024 the Fired Up Tour rolled through the historic EXIT/IN in Nashville, bringing with it all of the nostalgia of the early 2000’s pop punk/emo scene with some new memories added in. Supporting their release of their self-titled album in the fall of 2023, they are bringing along New Jersey based band Pollyanna for the ride.
The first act to grace the legendary stage of the night was a Nashville local artist, Sierra Annie. Tapped to fill the opening slot of the night, she brought to the stage her unique sound that was equal parts girl-power rock and pop accompanied by a heavily pink lighting setup courtesy of the house. She mused about how when she moved to the city about 6 years ago and was working at a venue across the street, she dreamed of playing on this stage. To be opening for an artist she had always admired was just the cherry on top of a great night. She played a six song set including songs such as Carly, Your Girlfriend Wants Me, and her current single XRN.
The New Jersey rockers Pollyanna were next to the stage. Their sound is a mix of pop, grunge, and punk all rolled into one, with a heavy does of irreverent fun mixed in. Playing songs off of their newest release SLIME, it was clear the band was there to have a good time and encouraged the crowd to do the same. With the command of “Let’s get weird!”, the band asked everyone in the crowd to jump along with them to one of the more upbeat songs in their set. Towards the end of the set, a surprisingly mellow song was played on just an acoustic guitar to a quiet crowd. It was an expected, but impactful moment from the band- and they had everyone’s attention. They finished off the night on an upbeat note that found them adding in the signature bell toll from a certain wildly popular fast food establishments commercials as they left the stage.
The night finished up with Plain White T’s taking the stage and immediately launching into their song Our Time Now which has the crowd immediately jumping and singing along. The band played a monster 18 song set followed by an encore of 3 more songs, including their most famous hit Hey There, Delilah. they played songs off of albums new and old as the crowd sang and danced along for the duration. Playing through the songs, you could tell the band was genuinely having fun on stage as well as interacting with the crowd. Being a smaller, older venue- the crowd is very close to the stage which allows for greater crowd participation than some larger venues. Frequently slapping hands and encouraging the crowd to sing along was easy to do. For the song The Giving Tree, lead singer Tom handed off lead vocal responsibilities to lead guitarist Tim Lopez. When it came time for them to sing Girl From Pasadena, Tom made mention of how Pollyanna also had a song that they played that was close in title called just Pasadena, and how much he enjoyed shouting that fact out each and every night of the tour. They finished off their night with one of their hit Rhythm of Love from their 2010 album Wonders of the Younger, which again found the crowd swaying and singing along. With a set with a little bit of everything for everyone, Plain White T’s stayed true to the fans of the older music as well as those who love the newer stuff too.
