Girl at the Rock Shows

Another night, another sold out show at The Turf Club in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I don’t know what’s going on in the scene right now but the amount of smaller sold out shows that I have been attending lately has been growing and it makes my heart so full. Obviously I know the magic of live music but has everyone else finally caught on? Or are that many amazing bands starting to come through town now? Regardless, I was absolutely in my happy place as I found my spot at The Turf Club and waited to be wowed by the three-band line-up on Tuesday night.

Cincinnati-based The Mimes got things started. This four piece band didn’t waste time jumping into their energetic set that had a bit of a punk edge with a bit of a 90s influence. This band got their start during the pandemic but that leads me to question why they hadn’t gotten together sooner. The sound of The Mimes was exactly what I wanted for my Tuesday night but that’s besides the point. The talent of this band was quickly made apparent by not only dazzling acapella moments from the vocals but also by the way all of the members switched instruments throughout the set. I’m not just talking about a bassist switching with a guitarist– that’s child’s play. Even the drummer of The Mimes spent some time further up the stage as he swapped out with the guitarist at one point. Regardless of who was on what instrument, The Mimes’ sound was a well crafted sound of everything I love and was absolutely an excellent way to kick the night off.

What happened next truly left me and my friend lost for words. I had never heard of Generacion Suicida prior to the show on Tuesday but, within the first couple seconds of their set, I wanted to know everything there was to know about them. Generacion Suicida’s motto is “Musica del barrio, para el barrio” (“music from the neighborhood, for the neighborhood”) and, honestly, that’s a great way to put their style into words. Their performance on Tuesday night was raw and full of power and intensity. This four-piece commanded your attention and although it was clear that only a handful of people in the sold-out audience were prepared for this band, it was also clear that they were gaining a new fan with every second of music that passed.

My friend and I literally stood there shouting names of bands back and forth trying to pin Generacion Suicida’s sound down. I shouted out The Casualties. She shouted out The Jam. I shouted out old school punk. She shouted out mod punk. It went back and forth like that throughout the set and, when it was done, we were still left discussing all of the influences we heard throughout this Los Angeles band’s set. Although we never came to a conclusion together, I came to the solo conclusion that this band can just not be classified. They take elements of so many things to create a sound that can only be called Generacion Suicida and that’s what made their set such a stand out one. They mentioned that this Tuesday night performance was their first time in Saint Paul (kudos to them for getting the city right– so many first timers get confused and say that they are in Minneapolis when, in actuality, they are in Saint Paul) and I truly hope it’s not the last. I know it’s a bold statement, but I think Generacion Suicida may be in the running for one of the best bands of the year for me.

The thrill of Generacion Suicida made me almost forget the reason for the excitement within The Turf Club but, as the headlining act Screaming Females took over the stage, I was quickly reminded. Screaming Females are legends. There’s no other way to put it. A staple in the scene since the mid-2000s, Screaming Females were a soundtrack for a generation. I’ll be the first to admit, Screaming Females were never one of my go-tos. I always knew their name and was fairly familiar with their music but they were just never quite hard or angsty enough for me back in the 2000s which means I had a lot of time with this band to make up for. As soon as they took the intimate stage on Tuesday, the sold-out audience seemed to shift. Instead of polite clapping and amazement as had been felt during the previous two sets, a feeling of insatiable nostalgia seemed to take over.

Being that I’m not super familiar with this band, I could not tell you what their setlist consisted of as far as old vs. new songs but I can tell you that every song seemed to be everyone’s favorite. Between songs the audience was giving deafening applause but, during the songs, the audience was silent. The appreciation that the audience clearly had for this band spoke volumes to me and although the band felt fairly soft-spoken when it came to banter with the audience, I could tell that the appreciation was reciprocated.

From people singing their hearts out to every song to people just standing there with their eyes closed clearly letting the music take them over, I loved seeing the lasting power of this group truly engulf the audience. Although I wasn’t having a truly emotional experience like some of those around me, I felt myself getting lost in the music of this group. From sweltering guitar solos to vocals that were just as emotive as they were loud, I started to question how I never really obsessed over this band. Everything they gave me on Tuesday night was beyond perfect and I only regret not being able to really connect with the music like those around me.

Line Up:

The Mimes

Generacion Suicida

Screaming Females

Venue: The Turf Club

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Sausage Fest Meter: 5 out of 10

Average Age of the Crowd: 38

Crowd Surfers: 0

Stage Divers: 0

Mosh-Ability: 3 out of 10

Amount of Beer Spilled On Me: $0

Spotted Flying Through the Air: Nothing

Pukers: None Spotted

Idiots Taken Out By Security: 0

How Irritated I Was With Audience: 1 out of 10

How Many Times I’ve Seen These Bands Before (or at least how many times I can remember):

The Mimes – 0

Generacion Suicida – 0

Screaming Females – 0

Celebrity Sightings: Ann of Mostly MN Music

Overall Score: 8.5 out of 10

Show on Deck: Carcass / Municipal Waste / Sacred Reich / Creeping Death

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