Puzzle and Enjoy in Nashville:Unpredictable and sizzling hot

By Hattan Savage, Rock At Night Nashville

Live Review: Puzzle and Enjoy – Brooklyn Bowl, Nashville – April 27, 2025

The day that Puzzle and Enjoy announced their co-headline tour, I knew I was going to be there, one way or another. Puzzle and Enjoy are the solo projects of Fletcher Shears and Wyatt Shears, respectively. These SoCal-raised twin brothers also release music together as the more well-known band, The Garden. Growing up in the OC, the Shears twins also founded a record label called Vada Vada with only six artists signed — all of them longtime friends of the Shears.

As I walked down the hallway at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl, the hum of excited fans grew louder. Elevated elevator music filled the rest of the space — an interesting choice in pre-concert music. I ran into my friend Mayan in line for merch before the show. She was getting ready to “tear it up in the pit”, in her own words. A tequila Red Bull helped, and I think I later spotted her crowd-surfing from my perch on the balcony. After a post-show reflection, I realized the elevator music was likely an attempt to mislead anyone who hasn’t been to a Vada Vada concert — neither Puzzle nor Enjoy sounded anything like it.

Vada Vada artists and fans strongly embrace self-expression. Fans of one Vada Vada artist often support the others signed to the label, so I recognized nearly every t-shirt in the room. While most people chose jeans and tees, many attendees wore all-black outfits complete with leather jackets, platform boots, studs, chains, lots of piercings, and a face full of black and white makeup (to mimic The Garden — iykyk). If you’re looking for fashion inspiration, look no further than GA at a Vada Vada show.

Enjoy (Wyatt Shears) performed first, with support from four band members. The band sometimes switched instruments, but they always had two guitars and one bass going simultaneously. The drummer stayed on his throne the whole time. Both guitarists played acoustic during a couple of songs, adding an interesting tone to the set. Enjoy played new and old songs, including “Slip Of The Memory,” “Drink Myself To Sleep,” “The Sound Of Deceit,” and one of my absolute favorites, “Small Car Big Wheels.” For this set, I braved the mosh pit for a spot closer to the stage, bathing in the red lights shining from above. Spotlights flashed into the crowd and back on stage the whole set. Blinding at times, but worth every second.

Enjoy’s set ended, the lights went up, and so did that same elevator music. Speaking of things that ascend, I ventured upstairs to the balcony before Puzzle (Fletcher Shears) came on, settling on a spot with a great view of the stage. Suddenly, the music stopped, the lights dimmed, and a long-haired bleach blonde came running on stage in a suit that was flooding just the right amount. Was it punk Barbie come to life? No! It was Fletcher himself. The GA crowd immediately turned into a giant pit, and just like in the OC, people started surfing. Crowd-surfing, that is.

Puzzle’s set also included new and old songs, including “Chicken Shit,” “Slobber Of The Dog,” “Bankrupt (i hear it makes you smile),” and my all-time Puzzle favorite, “One Hundred Geese.” Puzzle had three band members on stage: one on guitar, one on drums, and Fletcher on vocals. Not to fear, bass lovers. The sub-bass from Puzzle’s pre-recorded tracks saturated the room.

I am no better than any fan, and like many that night, I fell victim to the merch table. To make the most of my purchase (and to stay in the concert mindset as I write), I’m rocking my Enjoy shirt and sipping from my water bottle, which is now proudly branded with the coolest Puzzle sticker. The Puzzle X Enjoy co-headline tour is still Crusading Across The States, and if you miss them, you’ll be kicking yourself until the next time they roll into town.