
Jon Auer (The Posies, Big Star)
Sun, 1 Feb, 12:00 AM CST
The Basement
1604 Eighth Ave South, Nashville, TN 37203
Event Information
Age Limit
21+
Refund Policy
All sales are final. No refunds unless a show is canceled.

Alternative Rock
Jon Auer
Jon Auer
Alternative Rock
Former Posies co-founder/singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Jon Auer's notable career started at the age of 17 in Bellingham, WA where the Posies first record Failure (featuring the Jon-composed "I May Hate You Sometimes" ) was recorded and mixed by a teenage Jon in his home studio after school and on weekends. Two years later The Posies signed a deal with DGC/Geffen and ultimately recorded three records for the prominent label, including Dear 23 (featuring the Jon-composed singles "Suddenly Mary" and “Golden Blunders”, the latter eventually covered by former Beatle Ringo Starr) and the landmark Frosting on the Beater, which included Auer's classic singles "Dream All Day", "Flavor of the Month", and “Definite Door” as well as his dark and epic deep cut "Coming Right Along" (featured in the film of The Basketball Diaries and praised by Jim Carroll himself). A key player in the former Posies songwriting force, Jon also wrote “Going, Going, Gone” for the 3 million-plus selling Reality Bites soundtrack.
In addition, Auer is a critically-acclaimed solo artist and his solo record Songs From The Year Of Our Demise was named one of the best releases of 2006 by NPR and given 4 stars in UNCUT magazine. Auer toured the globe to support SFTYOOD as an extremely well- received one-man troubadour-style show, his songs and stories side by side. Jon was also a member of the re-formed Big Star for 17 years and continued to perform as part of Big Star's Third ever since. In 2004, Jon spent time at Ardent Studios in Memphis helping write and record Big Star's album In Space, contributing (among others) "Lady Sweet" and co-writing "February's Quiet" with Jody Stephens. In 2022, Jon joined Stephens, Mike Mills (REM), Chris Stamey (The dBs), and Pat Sansone (Wilco) for a much-praised tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of Big Star's #1 Record and this same five-piece lineup toured Spain in November of 2023 as well to a rapturous reception and 2024saw these five musicians taking the stage again in celebration of Big Star's Radio City in the US and the EU and UK as well. Selling out even more concerts in 2025, now-dubbed The Big Star Quintet, the fivesome continue to perform all over the globe.
Auer has also nurtured a sizable production career having produced and/or mixed records for the likes of Love Battery, Truly, The Best Kissers in the World, Sky Cries Mary, Pond, Gnome, The Squirrels, You Am I, Redd Kross, Awesome, Cheap Star, and Spiral Stairs (of Pavement) and the Sub Pop label and also spent time in Nashville playing on the Ben Folds' produced William Shatner record Has Been.
About Songs from the Year of Our Demise:
“Startling (and liberating), a brilliant inversion of pop routine” – UNCUT (4 of 5 stars)
"The most arresting songwriting of Auer's career…this is Jon Auer at his best."- UNDER THE RADAR (8 ofn10 stars)
"Better even than his contributions to last year’s Posies and Big Star albums, Demise displays the sort of pop classicism that Auer excels at.... pain framed by such unerring, uplifting melodies that you almost hope, selfishly, that heartbreak will visit him each time he sits down to write." - HARP
“Leadoff track "Six Feet Under"…is among the catchiest and most emotionally exposed songs Auer has ever recorded.” - MAGNET
"Each song carries a strong, distinct melody, as if someone built an entire Brill Building in Auer’s head...Auer rides his juxtaposition of soaring form and searing content into pop transcendence.” – POP MATTERS (8 of 10 stars)
“One of the best albums of the year…August, melodic and heart wrenching” – AMPLIFIER
"A confessional and delicately nuanced solo album." – THE VILLAGE VOICE
"The Posies released Every Kind Of Light last year, but its excellence has already been surpassed by Auer's solo full-length debut.... He's emerged with what could be his sharpest, most memorable work since Frosting On The Beater." – THE ONION
"The melodies are so damn spot-on that I keep coming back again and again.... Cloudy-day pop that's hard to top." - TINY MIX TAPES
"Auer's first proper solo LP after a long career is a total surprise.... A conceptual, soulful record - but with a prickly, smarting underside. What you do get is something akin to a watershed LP....a counter-spell you can’t escape… This could be 2006's sleeper LP, this thicket of thorns lurking beneath a beauteous rose" - THE BIG TAKEOVER (#2 on Jack Rabid's Top 40 picks)
80 POINT AVERAGE ON METACRITIC
https://www.metacritic.com/music/songs-from-the-year-of-our-demise/jon-auer
About Jon Auer live:
“… Auer began the evening by pulling from an impressive catalog of songs from his Posies and Big Star days, as well as a handful of stellar tracks from his newer solo album. He was warm and epic, comfortable; using the venue's gorgeous forum for a handful of just-right, unplugged, solo-singer-songwriter-in-the- stagelight moments. It was mouth-agape, beaming from the front row, pull up your knees to your chest and your sleeves over your hands, 'please don't let it stop' kind of good -- a beautiful precursor for his headlining set Saturday night. He took over his own lyrically adept selection of songs like a true pro, delivering with just the right amount of witty banter, slashing us in half with his well-crafted ache…”
- THREE IMAGINARY GIRLS
“Although Jon Auer takes the stage as a solo performer and plays for over an hour-and-a-half, this is easily one of the most dynamic shows this reviewer has seen for a while, the mark of a truly talented and diverse artist. Opening with a divine track from his most recent release The Year of Our Demise, ‘Cemetery Song’ begins Auer’s beautifully-designed set list. It’s clear right from the start that the tonality of his voice is even more fluid, smooth and rounded than on the recorded tracks.
Throughout the night he shares with us the stories behind a lot of his work...He shares a touching story about Josephine, his estranged grandmother, and ‘Bottom of the Bottle’, written about his alcoholic friend, in which he pulls off a stunning a cappella breakdown.
Always offering something new at each moment of the performance, Jon disappears to return with a milk crate, which he locates in the middle of the Troubadour for an unplugged number. Jon Auer’s history as a key member of The Posies and Big Star is no secret and he keeps fans happy with a couple of tracks from both bands, closing his four-song encore with The Posies’ ‘Coming Right Along’. Tonight on display is a musician who has an intricate relationship with composition, performance, guitar playing, vocal talent and all elements of music - just plain brilliant to watch.”
- TIME OFF.COM.AU