American Aquarium brought an energetic, raucous vibe to their Thursday night concert at The Golden Record that included killer guitar licks, vocal harmonies, smiles, and sneers. Add all that to a stage that’s a mere two feet off the ground, and the concert at The Golden Record in south St. Louis was practically in your face.
The talking stopped and the fans surged closer to the stage as soon as the Raleigh-based alt-country sextet (who, die hard fans will know this, but the band took their name from a line in Wilco’s “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”) sauntered out of the side room a bit after 9 p.m. They quickly launched into the sweet, soulful, country-tinged “Me + Mine (Lamentations).” It didn’t take long for them to launch into the fan-favorite, rowdy “Casualties,” which had the whole crowd of around 400 singing along to. The energy stayed high with the band members each given their due to showcase their talents. BJ Barham, the sole original member, kept the audience riveted throughout with his “voice of a stripper” and his easy-going, welcoming aura.
With just a couple of nights left on this tour, the band pulled out the heartfelt “The Long Haul,” the jaunty “Losing Side of Twenty-Five, the jangly “The Luckier You Get,” and the raw “Burn.Flicker.Die.” The gentle “Waking Up the Echoes” made it to their three-song encore.
Opening the night was Buffalo Nichols. Born Carl Nichols, this interview shares that the solo performer “makes a great case for rethinking the way we classify music and its makers. ‘Nobody listens to one kind of music, but still artists are expected to make only one kind of music. So I’d like to present every side of me, rather than fit into one thing.’” The Houston-born, Milwaukee-raised singer/songwriter/guitarist performed a 30-minute set of mostly originals that harken back to a more standard blues sound as well as roots rock. He shared that “Living Hell” was written about his time living in Milwaukee and noted they have “cream brick, none of the red brick like St. Louis.” He switched guitars about three times and each one was prettier than the last. His “Lost & Lonesome” blues song is the kind of song you feel in your soul. He also performed a rework of Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie’s 1929 “When the Levee Breaks,” about the great Mississippi flood of 1927.
Throughout the night, a hint of fog blew out of a cooler placed in a corner at the back of the low stage while the lights bounced between yellow and blue hues.
A side note: At the start of the night, two grown, tall men, who were only about five feet from the stage, kept loudly talking over Nichols. This concert photographer snapped a photo of them and was going to share it widely, but may have changed her mind at this point. Finally, a hero in a red t-shirt stepped in to hush them to everyone’s delight. We do apologize for their rudeness, Mr. Nichols.
Despite the rude, loud talking men, the fans were otherwise rapt and the mood lightened and was joyous throughout the (rest) of the night, and was all anyone needed to jump start their weekend on a good note.
See all photos from the concert here: https://bit.ly/AmAq25cz
American Aquarium setlist: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/american-aquarium/2025/the-golden-record-st-louis-mo-1b4691d8.html
In my work life, I help nonprofits and small businesses with media and public relations. In my what I love to do life, you can typically find me photographing either wild horses or concerts.
