The Orion Free Music concert at the Overton Park Shell on Friday, June 10th, was an especially emotional one for many. Only two days before the show, Greg Cartwright, the Memphis-born singer and songwriter behind Reigning Sound, made it clear on the band’s Instagram page that last Friday’s show was to be the band’s last. For some time, rumors had circulated that Cartwright intended A Little More Time with Reigning Sound, the 2021 studio album on Merge Records, to be the band’s swan song, for reasons unknown. This was confirmed when he noted in his June 8th announcement, “It was my intention with A Little More Time to come full circle, reunite the original lineup of the band, and finish where we started.”
Still, it was hard to put an actual end point on the band’s life until, in the very same announcement, Cartwright wrote that “we are announcing the cancellation of Reigning Sound’s upcoming July European tour” because “Covid has proven to be a long-lasting concern and more difficult to navigate than anyone could have anticipated.” This alone caused a minor outcry across the pond, as European fans pointed out the many Covid-free tours now being conducted by other American bands. Soon thereafter, the outcry rippled into Memphis, as it became clear that the band’s Shell appearance would be its final show by default.
Though not planned as such, the Overton Park Shell turned out to be a perfect venue for the swan song of a band dear to Memphians’ hearts for the past 22 years. While Cartwright has lived in Asheville, North Carolina, since 2004, using personnel from both that city and Brooklyn in ever-evolving versions of Reigning Sound, the heart of the band has always seemed to beat in Memphis. This was only confirmed when Cartwright reconvened the original lineup, albeit with some added Memphis players, to record both A Little More Time in 2020 and its follow-up, Memphis in June, a live album from the band’s show at the Harbor Town Amphitheater, last year.
As it turned out, the band’s followers turned out in droves on June 10th. Natalie Wilson, executive director of the Overton Park Shell, noted that “we had 2,800 people in attendance. What an incredible night!” And indeed it was, as fans — singing along and dancing with abandon — bade farewell to a band whose whole was always greater than the sum of its parts. And, perhaps only humoring the fans’ many expressions of love throughout the night, Cartwright quipped teasingly that “I said our final show would be at the Shell. So we can come back to play here again and that will technically be true.” With that, the band, now including Cartwright, Flyer music editor Alex Greene, Seth Moody, Greg Roberson, Graham Winchester, and John Whittemore (with Krista Lynne Wroten lending violin and Marcella Simien lending vocals at times), took their final bow.
See the photo gallery below for a handful of images from the band’s farewell performance. All photos courtesy @disciplephoto.
