The Pretenders are currently on a tour of extremes, opening dates on Guns N’ Roses’ stadium tour, and in between playing some of their most intimate US club shows in ages. Having opened for GN’R in Chicago on Thursday night, Chrissie Hynde and co rolled into Nashville on Saturday for a show at Blue Room, Third Man Records’ very cool 250-capacity club that’s attached to their retail store. Like at their Bowery Ballroom show earlier this month, the band skipped the big hits in favor of deep cuts, showcasing 2020’s Hate for Sale and their upcoming Relentless.
Hynde’s 72nd birthday may be coming up next week, but she didn’t sound or act anywhere near that age on Saturday night, still a pistol with pipes fully intact. She stopped the room dead with a knockout performance of Hate for Sale‘s “Can’t Hurt a Fool,” which was easily the show’s highlight. Also like at Bowery, she seemed to know half the room, joking with and shouting out friends in the crowd. I didn’t see Jack White there but Hynde took a moment to thank him for opening the venue which she described as “boy heaven.”
Chrissie gets a lot of support from the three other players in the current lineup of the band, including a killer rhythm section (bassist Dave Page and drummer Kris Sonne), and especially the great James Walbourne on lead guitar, who was absolutely spitting fire from his instrument and giving everything he had. “There are not many guitar heroes left,” Hynde said, introducing him. “There’s Jack, James and…am I allowed to mention Dan?” Dan would be Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, who have been accused of ripping off The White Stripes more than once over the years, and who produced The Pretenders’ 2016 album Alone. If anyone’s allowed to say that at Third Man Records, it’s Chrissie Hynde.
The Blue Room setlist was nearly identical to Bowery’s, including Learning to Crawl deep cut “Tequila” (not the Pee-wee song), and ending with two songs off their 1979 debut, “Precious” and “Tattooed Love Boys.” It was a real treat to catch a band this iconic and still vital in such a tiny setting. Check out a few videos from The Pretenders’ Blue Room show below.
The Pretenders play Asbury Park’s Stone Pony Summerstage on Tuesday (8/29).
SETLIST: The Pretenders @ Blue Room at Third Man Records 8/26/2023
1. Losing Sense My Sense of Taste
2. A Love
3. Turf Accountant
4. Adultress
5. Downtown (Akron)
6. The Buzz
7. Domestic Silence
8. Time The Avenger
9. Biker
10. Boots of Chinese Plastic
11. Don’t Cut Your Hair
12. Gotta Wait
13. Can’t Hurt a Fool
14. Tequila
15. Thumbelina
16. Let The Sun Come In
17. Junkie Walk
Encore
18. Precious
19. Tattooed Love Boys
See pictures from this month’s Bowery Ballroom show below.
