Girl at the Rock Shows

When people ask me how I got into this or why I do this night after night, my mind drifts to my teenage years. It was night after night of going to shows and worshipping bands like they were my higher being (in a not creepy way). That’s right, people, I’ve been doing this for over twenty years– nearly every night. I think back and can smell the odor of sweat and stale beer from House of Bricks– the venue that started it all– and instantly get lost in the sounds of all of those early 2000s pop-punk and emo bands that really set my life on this trajectory. One of those bands is Punchline. For some reason, this Pennsylvania band consistently pulled through House of Bricks and Des Moines in general. I formed a bond with their music and their words, much like I have with other bands throughout my life. Fast forward to now, and it’s been literal decades since I’ve had the chance to see Punchline live, but that all changed on Thursday night when they came to The Fine Line in Minneapolis. Not to get super sappy or anything but, as I stood there with my camera slung around my neck and head in work mood, I couldn’t help but think that, in that moment, my life had come full circle.

Before I get into the magic that happened with me finally seeing Punchline again, I need to tell you about the “surprise” opener of the night. I only say that he was a surprise because he wasn’t on the original billing, and I never thought I would see Kevin from the American Pie film series perform a set. Thomas Nicholas may have found his fame playing that role and playing Henry Rowengartner in Rookie of the Year (which I have never seen), but he has moved on and is creating a niche in the pop-punk scene. I loved the way that Thomas played up his past in his songs. The opening track was a cover of Fountains of Wayne’s “Stacy’s Mom” but with the words changed to be about Stifler’s mom (from American Pie). This broke the ice and made it clear that he knew why people may have been there to see him but, at the same time, showed that he is talented, creative, and overall just great. All-in-all, Thomas’ set was super fun, and I loved how he ended it with his Bowling For Soup parody of “1985” titled “1999,” but, I’ll be honest, I was ready for him to get off the stage and make room for Punchline.

Punchline never got the recognition they deserved, and I will die on that hill. Beyond my deep connection with the band and the way they truly soundtracked an entire era of my life, this band is solid, and they proved that, even though years have passed, that hasn’t changed. Playing through their 2004 album ‘Action’ and then proceeding onto a smattering of other releases from their other seven albums, I was in awe of how all the words and music just started flowing through me. I’ll be honest; it’s been years since I’ve sat down and just let ‘Action’ or any of their other albums play, yet there I was with the cheesiest smile on my face, singing along to every word like it was 2005 again.

I’ll admit that Punchline didn’t play all the songs I wanted to hear. They didn’t play “Caller 10” (arguably one of their best songs of all time) or “Flashlight” (a song that my friends and I would have flashlights on the ready for back in the day so we could pull them out and dance with them during this track) but hearing ‘Action’ played in its entirety was a sort of consolation. Honestly, this band could have gone up there and played lullaby versions of all of their songs, and I would have been just as excited. There was just something so perfect about seeing the smiles of these musicians in real life again for the first time in forever that hit me in the form of a wave of emotions. Had my friends not been there, this definitely would have been a set that I spent bawling my eyes out for no good reason, but it would have been a good kind of bawling.

I have been to literally thousands of concerts since the last time I saw Punchline live. I have seen probably damn near ten thousand bands since then, yet something felt so familiar about their performance on Thursday night. Maybe it was the smiles that never left the members’ faces throughout the set, or perhaps it was just the music; regardless, I was lost in the most beautiful haze of nostalgia, and it was hard to pull myself out of it as they left the stage. The truth is, this band means so much to me, and me gushing over them or describing every single moment of their set on Thursday night will do nothing for you because, well, they don’t mean to you what they meant to me, so I promise not to drag this on, but I will say that there was something just so energizing, so perfect, about their set on Thursday night and I hope it’s not another couple of decades before I get to experience it again.

Although I was clearly there for Punchline, I wasn’t bummed about the headlining act being The Spill Canvas. This is another one of those nostalgic acts for me, but unlike Punchline, I have had the chance to see this band a couple of times since my teenage years. Don’t get me wrong; they still struck me with their raw, all-too-real words and beautiful music. There’s something about this South Dakota-bred band that will always hit me right in the emotional gut, and I was not alone in that feeling. As the band played, I found my eyes surveying the audience. I loved the amount of people I saw with their eyes closed as they sang to the words and swayed to the beat. It was as if I was watching all of these people around me have a truly religious experience, and it was impossible not to do the same myself so, as the band played through “Self-Conclusion” (a song that kept an entire generation alive and I mean that literally), I closed my eyes and let myself drift. I don’t know where I drifted to or how I snapped back to life but I know that those few minutes of the night were just the icing on the cake to an absolutely perfect and fantastic night.

Line Up:

Thomas Nicholas

Punchline

The Spill Canvas

Venue: Fine Line

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing

Average Age of the Crowd: 37

Crowd Surfers- 0

Stage Divers- 0

Dance-ability-6 out of 10

Amount of Beer Spilled On Me While Walking Around- $0.57

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

Thomas Nicholas – 0

Punchline – Probably about 10-15 but that was all back in the day

The Spill Canvas – 9

Celebrity Sightings – None

Overall Score- 11 out of 10

Show on Deck —Taking Back Sunday / Citizen

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