Girl at the Rock Shows

I could have spent all day Saturday bumming around local records stores for Record Store Day, buying up vinyl that I don’t have the space for, and seeing literally dozens of acts live. Honestly, that’s the way I should have spent my day, but as I started to go over schedules and try to plan out the day, it became too much, and I gave up. This is the way I work. I know it’s flawed, but I just shut down if overwhelmed. Much like during the day, there were a bajillion concerts happening in town on Saturday night. I could have easily gotten in my head about which one I should be at, but I went with my gut, and my gut was saying to head over to Cloudland in south Minneapolis. I may be a fairly unsure person when it comes to many things, but my gut always steers me right, and Saturday night was the same.

The small and intimate room was packed as my friends and I entered the room, said hello to some familiar faces, and found our spots just in time for Tim Casey & The Martyrs to start their set. Although far from a new band, Saturday night’s performance was this group’s first indoor show since the beginning of the pandemic. This absolutely added a slight sense of hype behind their set, but honestly, that hype is there regardless. Time Casey & The Martyrs are one of those just super solid bands. Their sound is as strong as it is catchy and their performances come off as highly rehearsed while having an organic sense of passion and fun behind them. Saturday night was no different. Although the audience wasn’t the kind of audience to move and bop around on Saturday night, something about Tim Casey & The Martyrs’ sound made you want to move. I’m not sure how people refrained (including myself), but that energy was just what I needed to start my night right after a day that had otherwise been fairly lazy.

It feels like I just saw Cindy Lawson perform, but, in reality, other than a small cameo performance at The Von Tramps show a couple of weeks ago, I haven’t witnessed the magic of Cindy Lawson since November of last year, so I was due for it. Cindy is a legend—no other way to put it. Joined on stage by her super fun and solid band, her set on Saturday night was full of anthemic Minneapolis-styled garage-punk songs with a classic rock n’ roll twist that, like those of Tim Casey & The Martyrs, filled me with a sense of energy and enthusiasm. Beyond the flawless sound of Cindy and her band is what they stand for. I was still feeling the sting of the cover band show I had stumbled upon earlier in the week, so hearing Cindy thanking the audience for supporting live ORIGINAL music with all of her heart made me feel a slight sense of redemption. It also made me giggle as the band ironically jumped into a cover of “Send Me A Postcard” from Shocking Blue, but I’ll give them a pass. The heart and fire that was shown throughout the set was perfect and made it clear that I had picked the right show to spend my Saturday night at. I often wonder what I’ll be like when I’m older. If I have any say in the matter, I truly hope I just an ounce as cool and amazing as Cindy is.

The Customers, the headliners of the Saturday night show, is one of those bands that has been on my watch list for a very long time, but I’ve never been able to catch them perform– until now. To say that this band was worth the wait would be an understatement. Although their sound stayed in the vein of the rest of the night– classic rock n’ roll with a slight Minneapolis garage punk influence– there was something about The Customers’ sound that felt ever so slightly more classic and a bit more retro. Although not typically one for old music (long story for another day), I found myself being hooked by this band with every passing note and song.

Unfortunately, as I sit here this morning, I find myself lost for words when it comes to The Customers’ headlining set on Saturday. This happens from time to time, and I get really hard on myself because of it. Did I need to pay more attention? Should I have spent more time taking notes? Yes and no to both of these questions. The fact is, sometimes sets just make me flutter away from the real world in an almost out-of-body way. This typically means that the music I’m hearing and the energy I’m feeling is just a perfect match for what my soul was in need of at the time, and that’s exactly what happened during The Customers’ set. Their music and vibe just hit me so hard that it was as if, for the first time in a hot minute, everything in the world was good, and I was just truly stoked to be where I was with who I was with doing what I was doing. My apologies to The Customers for not having a more detailed debrief of their set, but, in this case, that’s a good thing because they nailed it so perfectly.

I didn’t do Record Store Day on Saturday, which is a regret of mine, but I did get treated to a hell of a local show on Saturday night surrounded by people who, like me, truly love local and original music. Honestly, that was better than any stressed-out Record Store Day shopping would have been.

Line Up:

Tim Casey & The Martyrs

Cindy Lawson

The Customers

Venue: Cloudland

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 48

Crowd Surfers- 0

Mosh-ability- 0 out of 10

Amount of Beer Jenny (a friend I was with) Spilled on Herself – $3.24

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)-

Tim Casey & The Martyrs – 0

Cindy Lawson – 1

The Customers – 0

Celebrity Sightings – Ann of Mostly MN Music

Overall Score- 8.5 out of 10

Show on Deck- The Ghost Inside / Paleface / Bleed From Within / Great American Ghost

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