Girl at the Rock Shows

I had dinner with a high school friend I hadn’t seen in nearly fifteen years. It was surreal to sit there with her and her five-month-old baby. It was fun, delightful, lovely, and I loved catching up with her so much, but as she talked about her life and what all of our high school friends have been up to since graduating nearly twenty years ago, I couldn’t help but get in my head. Had I done it all wrong? Here she was with a beautiful baby girl and loving husband and full-of-life little boy waiting for them at the hotel and here I was having to rush through dinner to get to yet another concert. I know we all have different paths, but I got myself in a bit of a rut as I heard her talk and envied her “normal” life. By the time I made it to The Turf Club in Saint Paul, I was honestly a bit of a mess, but I couldn’t miss the show, so I sucked it up, wiped my eyes, and walked into the intimate venue. With my first step in, I took the biggest breath I had taken of the day, and, just like that, that rut I had fallen into was gone, and it was nothing but bright skies and sunshine (for lack of a better description).

Unfortunately, my dinner went a wee bit long, so I missed the majority of opening act of Fend’s set. That being said, I did hear their final song through the windows as I got myself together to go inside. I don’t regret being late because my friend and I had a lot of catching up to do but I will say that hearing just one song from this shoegazey yet powerful band had me bummed that, of all of the nights, this was the one I was late for. My deepest apologies to Fend.

Room3 was up next, and to say that the anticipation to see this band for the second time was high would be an understatement. Although completely out of my usual cup of tea, this jazz band had me sold and then some when I was introduced to them at this same club in January. Stylistically, this is a jazz band, but don’t stop reading, and don’t avoid this group because I’m saying that. It’s so much more than jazz, and I honestly hate having to box them in like that. Honestly, Room3’s sound is more of an experiment. It’s an exploration of sounds and emotions presented with a bow of practiced perfection and sheer talent. Just like last time (which you can read about HERE!), my eyes were drawn to drummer Colin Mitchell (AKA RAWTWHYLAH). There’s just something so infectious about the way he drums. Not only is he giving a stellar musical performance, but the electricity radiating from his being is truly electrifying.

One of the things I really love about this group is the way the four members work together. I really can’t tell if the majority of their music is improvised or all planned, but the way you get little smiles from the band members throughout the set leads me to believe that there is quite a bit of adlibbing going on. I also really like how each member of this group respects the other to the highest amount. Whether it’s during a solo or just a small little intricacy, the rest of the band is so attentive to everything happening, giving each member a time to shine and a time to fade into the background and tug the tracks along. Okay, clearly, I am hopelessly in love with this group, but I won’t continue to praise them. I will leave it at this– see Room3 the first chance you get. They will not disappoint.

Honestly, that could be said about all four of the acts that took the stage on Wednesday night. Each brought something completely different to the table, with the only constant of the night being the sheer creativity and talent that each group brought. Out of all of the acts that I played, I was the most lost in the performance from The Nunnery. I promise not to go overboard gushing over this creative artist as I will be seeing her again on Thursday night, but I was truly captivated throughout her quick performance. I loved the way that Sarah Elstran (the genius behind The Nunnery) started her set off by explaining that we were going to go up in the clouds and just hang out for a bit. It sounded cheesy and honestly a bit too hippie for me, but as she started looping various vocals and beats together, it made sense, and I was lost in the clouds just as she had said I would be.

Joined on stage by her bandmate James (who is a beautiful drum), Sarah took the modest audience through waves of emotion and moments of peace so effortlessly. Her music wasn’t loud, yet it spoke volumes to my soul. Watching her was like feeling the music. She spent the majority of the set with her eyes closed as she created these looping patterns that started from nothing and turned them into beautiful soundscapes that washed over you. With the slight existential crisis that I had on my way to this show, The Nunnery’s set was truly just what I needed, and I can not wait to see her perform again on Thursday night.

Closing out the night and the reason for the eclectic evening of music was the one and only Dilly Dally Alley. This band has been on my list to see for some time, and I was stoked to finally cross them off my list. That being said, I didn’t know what I was in for. All I knew was that some people in my circle were obsessed and that the group had a super cool and oddly catchy name. As soon as the six-piece kicked into their set, I was again lost in their world like I had been with the previous acts. A little jazz, a little indie, a little rock, and a whole lot of groove, I felt like I was visiting this strange planet as Dilly Dally Alley performed. Okay, maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but their sound wasn’t intense, it wasn’t aggressive, it wasn’t particularly fast, yet I feel like I gained so much energy when watching them.

There was something so effortless about the way vocalist Sophia Spiegel sang. It made me love and hate her at the same time. The way her vocals so perfectly danced over the instrumentation in a free and organic yet perfectly timed way made me envy her talent but, at the same time, fall head over heels for her at the same time. This is how I felt about the whole band. Much like the music of Room3, I couldn’t tell if what the group was doing was planned or improvised, but, at the end of the day, that doesn’t matter. Whether it was all written out or all created right in front of me in real-time, I was just in love with everything about the group.

Wow, this has turned into quite a lengthy article, and I haven’t even gotten into the fact that the night was a celebration for Dilly Dally Alley’s new single or the fact that we were treated to beautiful local poetry between each act. This was more than just a show; Wednesday night was an event complete with speed dating with a vampire, and, well, you just had to be there.

I walked into The Turf Club on Wednesday night, wondering if I had chosen the right path for my life. I was worried I had messed everything up and that I would never have a normal life but, as the music played and I got lost in three separate worlds within just a couple of hours, I realized that a normal life just isn’t for me. My life is supposed to consist of nights out and escaping into new worlds created by highly talented individuals who, like me, refuse to live “normally”.

Line Up:

Fend

Room3

The Nunnery

Dilly Dally Alley

Venue: Turf Club

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 38

Crowd Surfers- None

Stage Divers- 0

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 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)-

Fend – 1

Room3– 1

The Nunnery– 0

Dilly Dally Alley – 0

Celebrity Sightings – Ann of Mostly MN Music

Overall Score – 8.2 out of 10

Show on Deck — Marsgarb / Crystal Myslajek / The Nunnery

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