MUST-SEE SHOW this December: 50th Anniversary Big Star Celebration! Big Star was called “the unluckiest band in America” (by NPR in 2010). Yeah, they shoulda-woulda-coulda been superstars. That’s how good they were. Formed in 1971 Memphis by the revered Alex Chilton [1950-2010] who, as a teenager, in a band called The Box Tops, had a 1967 #1 with “The Letter,” Big Star might’ve been incredibly influential to the generations of alt-rock bands who came in their wake, but they themselves never enjoyed mass success. So why are we still writing, talking and listening to them in 2022?

They broke up in ’75, reformed in ’93, and were called the “quintessential American power pop band” by Rolling Stone Magazine. Besides a terrific 2006 tribute album with Gin Blossoms, Wilco The Afghan Whigs and others and others, subsequent tribute albums and even a 2012 documentary film—Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me—now comes a great venue hosting what promises to be a great night of Big Star music with members of the dB’s, Big Star, REM, The Posies and others performing—in its entirety—Big Star’s ironically-named #1 Record (their 1972 debut recording which never even made the charts.)