The Vic Shows

I’m used to seeing Mike Mantione going a bit crazy every time I see him on stage, so Friday night was a bit odd.

The lead singer and songwriter for Athens’ legend Five-Eight, Mantione stood square in the center of the 40 Watt stage and sang sweetly for a lost friend:

I’m not a victim, I’m not a victim
Oh, I…I…I…I am intelligent, I am intelligent

Mantione and dozens of others gathered Friday and Saturday nights for The Vic Shows, a celebration of the music and influence of Vic Chesnutt. Mantione, who sang Chesnutt’s Speed Racer and Flirted with You all My Life (which contains the haunting refrain: Oh, Death you hector me/Decimate those dear to me/Tease me with your sweet release/You are cruel and you are constant) was joined by Pylon’s Vanessa Briscoe Hay for both songs. In a nod to another Athens musical great who died last year, Mantione and Hay kicked into Stop It from Pylon’s first album to remember Randy Bewley, the band’s guitarist who died of heart-related problems.

The two nights moved seamlessly, as groups came on, played a handful of songs, and made way for the next performers to offer their musical tribute to Vic. The crowd was older, plenty of musicians, who sat and listened and talked about their fallen friend. It was another only in Athens moment that no one wish had ever happened.