Girl at the Rock Shows

Per usual, a million things were happening on Saturday night from local shows to superstars in arenas all the way to sportsball. Minneapolis felt like it was buzzing, and as I made my way to The Icehouse in uptown Minneapolis, I started to wonder if I had made the right choice regarding how to spend my night. Should I have fallen for the big ticket in town and maybe gone to see Kenny Chesney? Maybe I should have taken advantage of the nice weather and gone to one of the local outdoor shows happening like the benefit at the Seward Cafe. This whole concert-going obsession sometimes turns into nothing more than hoping that I make the right choice as far as where I end up, but within the first few songs of the local show at The Icehouse, I knew I had made the right decision.

Joined on stage by the absolutely fantastic Red Pine Ramblin Crew, Emmy instantly had me hooked in the palm of her hand. Her set started with a classic country vibe before moving into something more jazzy for the second track. By the third song, I was getting an almost pop feel from Emmy’s music. What I’m trying to say here is that although her overall tone leans into the Americana genre of things, Emmy is so much more than just an Americana artist. My favorite part of Emmy’s opening performance was that although her voice comes off as very sweet and delicate, there’s a slight attitude in her delivery of certain words. It added a very raw sense of emotion to an already gorgeous set. Another favorite part was when she played “Ballad of Lake Superior.” This wasn’t the most exciting song of her set, but the telling of the ghost story was conveyed perfectly in the instrumentation. I feel like this song really highlighted the talent of not only Emmy but also the stellar band behind her. As I mentioned, by the end of her set, I knew I had made the right choice as far as how to spend my Saturday night.

The way that the next band, Tennessee Stiffs, kicked their portion of the night off was truly perfect. Their opening track acted as a welcome into their world. I didn’t catch the song name or enough lyrics to tell you what song it was, but it had an almost old-school carnival feeling to it. It was fun and quirky and. again, really helped you settle into what was coming from this Minnesota transplant band that is originally from Texas. Although the entire night was a bit out of my typical range of genres that I listen to on the daily, I instantly picked up on the slight gypsy influence that Tennessee Stiffs had in their sound. It wasn’t super aggressive or in your face, but the slight chaos that I felt throughout their otherwise perfect and chill set really had me sold on this new-to-me band. I don’t know if it was the bright red hair or what but I felt that I could not take my eyes off of Cara B. Not only were her vocals absolutely stunning, but the way she delivered everything was done with an insane amount of heart and passion, making it hard for me to look away. With my eyes and ears glued to what was happening on stage, I was a bit bummed as Tennessee Stiffs left to make room for the next act, but that feeling didn’t last long.

The Icehouse was honestly pretty packed, considering how much was going on on Saturday night, and the big reason for that would be Bryn Battani, the next act to take the stage. The show was a celebration of the release of Bryn’s new single “Dicey,” which had just come out the previous day. I’ll be honest: outside of her asking me if I was free to come out and check out this song, I knew nothing about her or her music. Sure, I could have spent some time on Friday checking out the single, but, in all honesty, my week was so insanely busy and quite honestly crappy that, come Friday, the last thing I wanted to do was check out new music. I just wanted to live in my world of comforting nostalgia, so I knew nothing about Bryn or her new song “Dicey” as she and her band took the stage and jumped into their set.

I realized within seconds that me coming in blind to this show was the worst idea I had had in a long time. Don’t get me wrong, I will always love going to shows without any preconceived notion of what is about to happen or regarding the music, but I instantly wanted to be part of Bryn’s world as she started singing due to the amount of passion she was putting into each word. It was one of those sets where, had I been able to sing along to the words, I would have been proudly screaming at the top of my lungs from right up against the stage even though this was a much more chill sit-down kind of show. From her dynamic compositions to the way her vocals dabbled between being perfect and having a very raw sensibility to them, there was no way that you were able to sit through Bryn’s entire set without falling head-over-heels for this woman and her clearly evident talent.

I could go on and on about the genius that is Bryn Battani and her band. From her super original and creative cover of Olivia Rodrigo’s “bad idea, right?” to the way she covered local act Clare Doyle’s “The Catch” song (seriously– the fact that Bryn covered a local artist should speak much louder than these words ever will in regards to how amazing she is), there was charming flying left and right throughout the set. I know that Bryn just moved to Minnesota from Texas last September, but, sorry, Texas, you’re not getting her back. She Minneapolis’ now and we are truly so lucky to have her.

Rochester, Minnesota-based Clay Fulton & The Last Forty closed out the Saturday night in style, but that’s no surprise. I caught this band this January and have been jamming to them ever since. Although it’s been months since my first experience with the band, as soon as they started playing, I remembered exactly why I had been so struck the first time I saw them. This band doesn’t care what you do while they play. You can talk through the set if you really want to (although I didn’t see many people doing that), you can grab a drink that you may not really need, you can just sit back and take it in, you can get wild and rowdy cheering with every epic moment that passes– again, whatever you want. All that matters is that this band will get stuck in your head with their unique vibe that hops between everything from wild-southern-country-party to slow-sad-whiskey-drinking-country-songs. Although I was honestly super exhausted by the time this headlining act took the stage, they breathed a sense of life into me with ease and made for a perfect ending to a perfect night.

Line Up:

Emmy Woods

Tennessee Stiffs

Bryn Battani

Clay Fulton & The Lost Forty

Venue: The Icehouse

Smell-O-Meter: The delicious food of The Icehouse

Average Age of the Crowd: 37

Crowd Surfers- None

Stage Divers- None

Mosh-ability- 0 out of 10

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

Broken Bones- None

Spotted Flying Through The Air- Nothing

Fights- None Witnessed

Pukers- 0

Passed Out Kids- 0

Idiots Taken Out By Security – None Spotted

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

Emmy Woods – 0

Tennessee Stiffs – 0

Bryn Battani – 0

Clay Fulton & The Lost Forty – 1

Celebrity Sightings – None

Overall Score- 8 out of 10

Show on Deck — Jesus Piece / Sanguisugabogg / Gag / Peeling Flesh

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