Girl at the Rock Shows

I spent my weekend in Fargo surrounded by the best of friends while checking out some live music and drinking one too many drinks. It was great, but I was ready to get home. I definitely could have used Sunday night as a recovery night and a chance to get caught up on housework, but I wasn’t in a rush to get out of Fargo to get home and do that; I was in a rush to get back home, so I could get to a show. This show wasn’t one of my standard shows. This was a pop show that I was at purely because of the nostalgia factor (and a few other reasons which I will get into in a second), but it ended up being a heck of a night that I am so glad I didn’t miss out on.

Now that I’m starting to take the photography side of things a bit more seriously, I find myself choosing shows to cover based on what I would be photographing. The fact that Chris Kirkpatrick of NSYNC fame was hosting Sunday night’s show at The Varsity Theater in Minneapolis was a huge bonus for me. I mean, come on, I’ll never photograph NSYNC. I know this, but being able to snap a couple of shots of at least one of the members of this famed boyband that I worshipped at one point in my life was a dream come true. Chris came out on the stage just a hair after 8 PM with a load of energy. He teased the crowd, singing a few lines of infamous tracks before introducing one of the two acts that would grace the stage as a sort of mish-mash set. Chris’s time on stage was short, but there was just something fun about seeing this man who had contributed to the soundtrack of a generation. On top of that, I loved being able to see his silly and goofy personality shine under the bright lights. Chris was not the headliner of the night or anything like that, but he was treated as royalty, and rightfully so.

Outside of Chris Kirkpatrick hosting the night, Sunday night’s show was made up of two highly nostalgic acts. The first one that the modest but excited audience got to experience was O-Town. Growing up, I was never a huge O-Town fan, but I know the jams. The last time I saw this boy band was back in July of 2019 when they stopped by the Minnesota State Zoo as part of this same tour (which has been going on for years and constantly features highly nostalgic acts that you may have forgotten about over the years). Although this was my second time seeing the band, and I was never a huge fan of them to begin with, as soon as they took the stage, a smile crept across my face, and it never left.

Although it’s been years since boy bands reigned supreme, O-Town has not changed a dang thing, and I love them for that. As soon as they hit the stage, my ears were treated to a simpler sound from a simpler time, and my eyes were treated to synchronized dance moves that made me giggle ever so slightly behind my camera. Although I couldn’t hold back the laughs and the slight tears from said laughs, there’s no denying that these four men still have it (and probably with thanks to Dr. Scholls, but that’s beyond the point). They danced and sang their hearts out for a couple of tracks that ranged from originals to covers, including a super fun cover of “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars. I loved that they catered their set to both people who were there to sing along to the infectious pop songs but also acknowledged the fact that there may be people in the audience who were only there for the other act of the night.

Before I get into that other act of the night, let me just say– I get it if you think that this tour that has been going on for years is a bit of a money grab and, you know what? You’re probably right. For lack of a better way of putting it, the bands that have been on this tour aren’t the most relevant bands of all time, and it would be easy to say that they are just doing this for the paycheck, but something about the way O-Town performed on Sunday made me feel that that wasn’t quite the case. These men looked and felt like they were having the time of their lives on that stage as they did what they loved. Sure, this could be all part of the act, but I just really appreciated that it didn’t feel like they were just going through the motions or anything like that.

I’ll be honest, although it was cool to see Chris Kirkpatrick in person and see O-Town sing and dance again, that’s not why I was at this show. I was there to see the one and only LFO (or what’s left of LFO). LFO was a bit of a more obscure pop band from the late 90s and early 00s, but they hit it big with their song “Summer Girls” back in 1999. You know the one… “I like girls that wear Abercrombie & Fitch..” I mean, that line alone is absolutely iconic, and I remember my brother and I jamming out to that song as loud as our boombox would let us. Times have changed, and songs like “Summer Girls” no longer do it for me, but every once in a while, if I’m having a bad day or am just in a mood, I will crank that song like it’s 1999, and forget every care in the world. Sure, I wasn’t seeing LFO in their heyday, but I was seeing LFO on Sunday night, and that was enough for me to forget my raging hangover and out-of-control exhaustion level, if only for a little bit.

LFO is not the same band they were back in 1999. Unfortunately, this band seems to have been plagued by tragedy, but the way that the sole remaining member paid tribute to his fallen brothers was absolutely gorgeous. Brad Fischetti came out on the stage with a microphone that had two pairs of shoes tied to the stand. One was for Rich Cronin, the other for Devin Lima. Both of these members (and Brian Gillis, who was in the band for only a couple of years) passed away far too young, leaving Brad to be the only LFO member still standing. His tribute to his fallen brothers during the set on Sunday was full of emotion, and rightfully so. Brad talked about how this tour is supposed to be a tribute to the men, and that’s exactly what it felt like. Every once in a while, as Brad was singing with the help of the members of O-Town, you could see him run his hand along one of the shoes or see him staring up into the sky as if singing to the stars of the fallen members. It was touching, beautiful, and perfect, and beyond that, I felt like the entire band was there purely because of the amount of heart and soul that Brad seemed to display throughout his time on stage.

Sunday night’s show was ridiculously short at just about an hour and a half, but that hour and a half had zero dead space. It was a constant barrage of sights and sounds from a time when things were just a bit easier for everyone. In this world where the name of the game is hustle and bustle, it was so nice to have at least one night where we could all revert back to the days when we wanted to be that girl wearing Abercrombie & Fitch while drinking Cherry Coke and eating a Fun Dip (cool points awarded if you get the reference).

Line Up:

O-Town

LFO

Chris Kirkpatrick

Venue: Varsity Theater

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 42

Crowd Surfers- 0

Stage Divers- 0

Dance-ability- 7.6 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 People- 0

Idiots Taken Out By Security – 0

How many men were questioning their current relationship because of being dragged to this show – 13

How many babysitters made over time on Sunday night – 174

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

O-Town – 1

LFO – 0

Celebrity Sightings – None

Overall Score- 9.5 out of 10

Show on Deck —Greylotus / Sarah Longfield / By The Thousands / Wanderer / The Motion Mosaic

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