Girl at the Rock Shows

When I started this blog, I was all metal all the time. I immersed myself in the local metal scene, experiencing some of the heaviest music the Twin Cities has to offer while also making the best of friends. I had a great thing going and had really carved a little niche out for myself, but after a couple of years, I started to branch out and quickly realized that, although I love metal shows, the music isn’t always for me, and sometimes it’s a generic indie-pop show that speaks to my heart. Long story short, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve doused myself in the waters that is the local metal scene, but that changed on Friday night, and it has me feeling all the feelings right now in all of the best ways.

The show on Friday was early– super early. This is one thing I don’t miss about the local metal scene. After getting home from work, all I had time to do was hop on a couple of other work calls and then head out the door. I was annoyed and quite honestly pissy as I picked my friend up and vented to her about my day as we drove to downtown Saint Paul, but something changed the second I stepped foot into Amsterdam Bar & Hall. I was greeted by lots of faces. Some were familiar, some not, but all of them had the same expression: excitement and love. Although it’s common knowledge to anyone involved in a local metal scene, it might be a shock to know that metal kids are genuinely some of the most passionate about their scene. That was what I felt as soon as I got through the door and found a spot close to the stage, and that’s all I needed to forget that it was only 5:30 PM on a Friday, and I was about to stand through six bands worth of sets that would surely leave me exhausted both mentally and physically. Being that it was a six-band line-up, I promise to keep these descriptions of sets short, so don’t worry, I won’t keep you here all day.

First up was ROT. Although it was super duper early, this band gave the quickly growing audience everything they had. ROT brought more than just intense energy to the stage to start the evening off; they also brought their unique blend of hardcore and metalcore. Although this could be said for all of the bands that graced the Amsterdam stage on Friday, something about the blend that ROT has speaks to my soul. There’s intention behind every note and every beat that shows the hard work, thought, and passion that this band has put into their music. It was a hell of a way to start the night.

It’s been just under a year since the last time I had the chance to witness the genius of WASTE, the second band to take the stage on Friday night, yet it was as if no time had passed at all. The band took the stage with a sense of aggression and angst that never seemed to fall away, but that’s what made their performance so powerful. I could tell that they were a little fed up with the fact that the audience wasn’t super energetic during their set, but they didn’t let that stop them from giving the audience a brutal and perfect performance.

There was a time when I felt like I was seeing Soulkeeper play every month. I was spoiled by that, and after not seeing them for a couple of years, I finally got to experience their larger-than-life energy and sound as they played third on Friday night. Although I haven’t been keeping up with them as far as seeing them and reviewing them, Soulkeeper continues to be one of the hardest working bands in the scene with their grueling touring schedule and what feels like constant releasing of new music. Playing their album ‘Holy Design’ in its entirety, Soulkeeper had me stuck in the palm of their hands like they always have in the past. Again, I loved the fact that although years have passed, nothing about this band has changed other than them just getting better and tighter.

In Search of Solace (ISOS) was up next and is another band that I feel like I saw constantly years ago, but then, as I shifted away from the metal scene, I just kind of forgot how spoiled I had gotten. I feel like I’m saying the same thing about all of the bands, but the fact is, all of these groups, with ISOS included, are just solid bands to see live. They bring a sense of flawless brutality and passion to the stage. That passion reigned supreme throughout ISOS’ set. Even if heavy music isn’t quite your thing, the way that ISOS presents it with such a sense of conviction and power will have you wondering if you could, in fact, be a metal kid.

There are some moments in my career as The Girl at the Rock Shows that stand out to me as moments that showed me I have something here and that people actually give a crap about what I write. Many of those moments revolve around the local metal band By The Thousands and the support that they have shown me since day one. I know some of the members of this band personally, dating back to my college days, but I’ve never let that sway my opinion of them. My personal friendships aside, BTT is a hell of a band that has only continued to age like a fine wine. Their new release, which they were celebrating on Friday night, is proof of that. Not only are the songs off of ‘The Descent’ some of the best songs BTT has released, but their performance absolutely showed a sense of growth behind this band. So maybe I’m biased but, truly BTT is a can’t miss band when it comes to their live show and their flawless sound is definitely getting the Twin Cities metal the spotlight it so badly deserves.

Being that I haven’t been super involved in the local metal scene lately, I was a bit surprised to see that Reflections were headlining the show on Friday night. I went to Reflections’ farewell show back in October of 2016. It was hard to say goodbye to such a solid local band, but I was absolutely ecstatic to say hello to them again on Friday night. Playing songs spanning their lengthy and storied career as a band, Reflections tore the Amsterdam Bar & Hall apart with their emotionally charged yet absolutely brutal songs. I honestly don’t know if Reflections is back to stay or if this was merely just a reunion show of sorts, but I truly hope that this hello is a long-lasting one because they absolutely murdered the stage.

I know I didn’t go super into detail on any of these bands and I’m sorry. The truth is, Friday night was me going back to my roots and, between the sounds and the people I ran into, my heart was just so happy and the last thing on my mind was to take notes on all of the bands. Never forget your roots, people. You can move on, change, and evolve, but always remember what made you who you are today.

Line Up:

ROT

WASTE

Soulkeeper

In Search of Solace

By The Thousands

Reflections

Venue: Amsterdam Bar & Hall

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 27

Crowd Surfers- Maybe around 10

Stage Divers – Around 5

Mosh-ability- 12 out of 10

How Many Moms Got In The Pit – 1 (Shout out to the mother of the vocalist of ROT)

Amount of Beer Spilled On Me While Walking Around- $0

Broken Bones- None

Spotted Flying Through The Air- Nothing

Fights- None

Pukers- 0

Passed Out Kids- None

Idiots Taken Out By Security- 0

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

ROT – 0

WASTE – 2

Soulkeeper – 7

In Search of Solace – 8

By The Thousands – 14

Reflections – 4

Celebrity Sightings – Everyone in this scene is a celebrity (although I mean this, I also just was not keeping track of who all I saw and ran into)

Overall Score-10 out of 10

Show on Deck- Slow Hollows / Aesha Minor

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