Bully at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 8/23/2025
Though Bully appeared as Suki Waterhouse’s Ryman opener in December, it’s been almost two years since the most recent time the project graced a Nashville stage in its natural state. That is, with singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer-engineer Alicia Bognanno and her backing band as a headline act — the way they’re meant to be experienced.
Rock stars don’t get much cooler than Bognanno. It’s hard to imagine many bands but The Breeders (for whom Bognanno opened a few shows in 2023) following the seasoned Music City rocker onstage. Her voice scratches an itch deep in your brain with tremendous satisfaction, and the searing, raspy howls she lets out are something you can’t replicate no matter how many times you try. She also happens to shred on guitar. And bass. And piano. Saturday, Bognanno oozed her effortless ultimate-cool-girl energy at the second of two sold-out nights at The Blue Room at Third Man Records.
Jawdropped at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 8/23/2025
Just after 8 p.m., Los Angeles-based opener Jawdropped showcased a taste of the gritty West Coast DIY scene, kicking off with “Skully,” which introduces their latest EP Just Fantasy. At times the performance felt like watching a game of tennis. Heads swiveled back and forth throughout the audience as singer-guitarist Roman Zangari and vocalist Kyra Morling chanted into mics from opposite sides of the stage. You’ve got another shot to catch them in this very same space: They’ll be back at The Blue Room Dec. 16 to open the final night of alt-country songsmith Greg Freeman’s tour.
Bully at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 8/23/2025
After Jawdropped departed, Bognanno appeared nonchalantly to tune her guitar and check her keyboard while sipping a Red Bull. Bully is known to put on an ear-damage-worthy live performance — you feel like you’re missing out if you keep the earplugs in — and Bognanno makes that known from the get-go. When she returned minutes later, she kicked off the show with a bang, whipping out the fast-paced “All I Do” from her all-around spectacular 2023 album Lucky for You. The electric-guitar-based tune repurposes the strums of a post-punk era gone by, while Bognanno’s voice packs the powerful punch of a mid-’90s riot grrrl, making the song hit as hard as possible in all the perfect places.
As the fuzz of guitar faded into a steady hum, the opening riff of “Where to Start” began before silence had a chance to settle. The Sugaregg song puts Bognanno’s vocal versatility on display, careening from silky and delicate lilts to nearly out-of-breath yelps. About 17 minutes in, Bognanno finally allowed a little stillness to envelop the stage as she tuned her guitar. She took a moment to remark on the coziness of the room before cracking a quick joke.
“Thanks for coming, we’ve got two songs left,” Bognanno deadpanned.
After a few scattered “boos” and “awws,” she reassured the crowd that she was only kidding.
Bully at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 8/23/2025
Bognanno carried on rocking, even as her claw-clip ponytail blew apart midsong and hair plastered itself to her face while she attacked her guitar. She wove her way through Bully’s discography, even spotlighting some of the earliest entries in her catalog like “Milkman” and “Sharktooth.”
“Trash” and “Six” are set-list staples from her debut full-length Feels Like, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, and they followed a little later. Then the band departed as Bognanno trudged across the stage to the keyboard. “I’m walking so slowly because I’m bound to eat shit,” Bognanno said, carefully sitting down. Before she could psych herself out, she began a solo performance of the gut-wrenching ballad “Atom Bomb,” followed by an unreleased song she said she’d only played once before.
“If everybody could just close their eyes, that would be really great,” Bognanno said. “This is, like, a bedroom practice right now. But it’s Nashville, so I feel like I can do that. It will be our little secret.”
Bully at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 8/23/2025
After the quiet moment, the band returned. Bognanno found her way back to center stage and hoisted her guitar around her shoulders as the bass-and-drums opening crescendo of “Running” began. An extended outro bled into the beginning of “Lose You” (no guest appearance from Soccer Mommy this time, though) as Bognanno harnessed her addictive croon to belt out the insightfully bleak opening lyrics: “Time’s just a useless measurement of pain.” The pop-punkish beat of “Days Move Slow” rounded out the final three songs, after which the band departed the stage without a word.
Bully is not the type of band to let a night just fizzle out, and the trio returned for a single-song encore with the upbeat, headbang-encouraging energy of “I Remember.” When Bully left the stage for real, Bognanno kept making the hard stuff look effortless — even when she had to scurry back and turn off a piece of gear that was left on by accident.
The Spin: Bully at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 8/23/2025
Photos from the second of Alicia Bognanno's two nights at TMR with support from Jawdropped
Bully at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 8/23/2025
