The Nashville Boogie 2016

It has been more than a month since my return from the 2nd annual Nashville Boogie, and I feel it's time I said a few words about it. Now that the newness and the thrill has faded, it seems easier to give an honest review based on my memory of the highlights and the lowlights (or does that just apply to hair?).

This year, the Nashville Boogie took place between May 12-15 at the luxurious Gaylord Opryland Hotel and we all had very high hopes for it. The line up was incredible, and based on last year's success, it was by far 'the event' I wanted to attend in 2016. So did it measure up?

In a word, YES!

Simply put, I was very upset that I had to choose my event this year. My budget didn't allow for me to go to both VLV and the Boogie, and so we conscientiously booked rooms at both and waited for the band list to be announced. Although I like many of the bands that played Viva Las Vegas this year, the Boogie line-up was on a whole other level. Great international acts like Marcel Bontempi and the Go-Getters, as well as excellent artists in the states, like James Intveld and The Planet Rockers couldn't be denied. Although I knew I would miss my dear friends from the west coast, whom I only ever get to see at Viva, I knew that making the local choice this year was a much more responsible plan.

If you saw my Weekender Recap from last year, you know that the venue is a very big plus in this case. The Opryland Hotel is a legendary hotel of the south, being one of the largest non-gaming facilities in the world, and offers a whole world of options in terms of entertainment. While the food is still expensive, we made better choices this time, like eating our big meal of the day during lunch, so as to take advantage of the better pricing during that time. Wasabi, the asian eatery located with 'outdoor' seating in one of the hotel's three, lush conservatories, was especially yummy, as was the Jack Daniels Pub, which offers a lot of upscale comfort food. The cheesy grits were especially delectable at 11:30pm!

The bands we most looked forward to were staggered throughout Friday and Saturday, so we decided to sit out Thursday and spend that time with our kids, who had traveled to the area with us. We left them with family Friday morning and headed to the Opryland Resort just in time to check in and head to the main event venue for The Doel Brothers, one of my favorite acts of the weekend. The Doel Brothers hail from the UK and offer up some of the best traditional country that I've seen in a long time.

From that point on, the weekend was a rush of running back and forth to the Nashville Palace, where many of our favorite traditional acts were booked. We did a pretty good job hoofing it though, since we saw almost everyone we wanted to. Also, there was plenty of room to dance and cavort and people-watch to our hearts' content.

As far as negatives, there were very few. It was a bit of a walk from the main hotel to the principal venue, and the weather did get a bit chilly sometimes, but honestly who cares about a little stroll when Deke Dickerson is being backed by The Reverend Horton Heat!? I sure don't! And yeah, maybe the sound wasn't the best in one of the other showrooms, and maybe the cars were not as plentiful, but that was easily balanced by the abundance of great vintage shopping, a fabulous western couture fashion show, and the chance to see Chris Issak at the Grand Ol' Opry! So I certainly won't complain.

Let's just say, the Nashville Boogie is definitely shaping up to one of the best vintage themed festivals in the world, and there couldn't possibly be a better place for it than the birth state of so many great musical genres. So in my opinion, it's here to stay!

Give the following video a look-see, for a few more photos and a taste of some of the entertainment we enjoyed over the weekend.
Tim Next Time...
So Long, Dearies!