Girl at the Rock Shows

Monday was just one of those no good, very bad kind of days but I am not going to let that set the tone for my week. Instead, I’m going to let the show I went to on Monday night at Fine Line be my “week kick-off,” as it were. I may not have been in the mood for a show, but I sure am glad that I decided to peel myself off of the couch and make my way downtown because what happened on Monday night may very well end up in some of my “top lists” for the year.

My introduction to Gustaf was back in October 2021 when they opened for IDLES at The Palace Theatre in Saint Paul. I was instantly obsessed, and since then, I have had the honor of catching this New York City-based band a couple of times. Their opening performance on Monday night may have been my favorite set from them thus far. They were high energy and definitely felt more like a headliner than just an opening act with a short time on stage. Within the thirty-five minutes that Gustaf graced the Fine Line stage, they gave the audience as much of their theatrical quirkiness and goodness as they could. I’m not sure that the rest of the audience was ready for it all, but I can tell you that, by the end of the night, Gustaf definitely had some new followers.

The music of Gustaf matches their quirky performance. It’s artistic, almost avant-garde at times. From the near-constant banging of a drumstick on a metal Cafe Bustelo coffee can (that was dang near destroyed) to the overly enhanced vocals that, at times, sound more monster than human, Gustaf was musically all over the place, and it was perfect. Some songs make you want to dance, and others come off as almost intimidating. That intimidating thing is only emphasized by vocalist Lydia Gammill. Her not-afriad-to-be-ugly faces, mixed with how she contorts her lanky body and almost seems to bite at the audience in a super in-your-face yet oddly hilarious way, will always keep me coming back.

Gustaf is one of those bands I could watch every night of my life and not get bored with it. I feel like every time I see them, they either have a new song or a new auxiliary percussion instrument (it was a dog’s chew toy on Monday night), and it keeps their sets feeling fresh but, at the same time, there’s no way this band can be anything other themselves which leads to an almost predictable set in a way. I think Gustaf is too weird for the mainstream. I fear that this band will not get the recognition they so badly deserve, but I’m so glad that that isn’t stopping them from touring the country with this quirkiness and turning even the darkest Mondays bright. Gustaf’s set on Monday will absolutely end up in some of my “best of 2024” lists. If that doesn’t persuade you to go see this band the first chance you get, I don’t know what will.

Although I wish I could say that the super-sold-out audience at The Fine Line was there because they had all heard of Gustaf before, it was not. The reason for the sold-out audience was Chicago-based Dehd. I’ll be honest: I knew nothing about Dehd before this show. This was one of those cases where I was at the show for the opener, and the headlining act was a bonus act. Although I felt that their overall performance didn’t hold a candle to the extreme oddball energy of Gustaf, I understood quite quickly why so many people had chosen to spend their Monday night with Dehd.

Dehd is an indie-rock band, but they have this slightly quirkier edge to them when compared to other indie-rock bands, and that, among other things, is one of the reasons I’ve been seeing their name a bit more frequently. They formed in 2015 as a side project but quickly became the focus of Jason Balla of Dream Eagles and Emily Kempf of Heavy Dreams (fun fact- Dehd actually stands for Dream Eagles Heavy Dreams, which was the combination of those two band names). After some hard work, Dehd released a self-titled album, followed by a six-track EP, followed by another album, and then more albums. Seriously, this band works, and even though they have only been putting recorded music out there since 2016, they already have nearly ten albums and singles out there. Like I said, Dehd has been putting in a lot of hard rock, and it was so refreshing to see it all pay off as the audience around me sang along with all of the words in their lengthy set.

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I’ll be honest: judging from their promo photos, I was expecting something loud, fast, and intense. Although I got intense from Dehd, I didn’t get the loud and aggressive part. Sure, there were some shouted words and no shortage of whirling guitar parts and slamming drums, but it felt a bit more low-key than I expected. Shame on me for judging a band by their promo photos, but I also really liked the effect this had on my first experience with this band. I feel like it shined this almost quirky light on them in a way that fits with the quirkiness of Gustaf. Call it dream pop, call it stoner pop, call it distorted indie rock– you can call the music of Dehd whatever you want, and, honestly, whatever you choose will probably fit what they are doing because, at the end of the day, it’s creative, it’s fresh, and it’s fun.

Although I clearly connected with Gustaf’s set a bit more, I wonder if that was more due to comfortability with the band, having seen them a couple of times and having spent some years completely obsessed with the group. That being said, seeing the way everyone around me connected with Dehd on what felt like a much deeper level than just the music had me a bit stunned and has me wanting to spend the rest of my Tuesday digging my heels into their material and seeing if I can figure out what it was so then I can have that same connection the next time I see them.

Line Up:

Gustaf

Dehd

Venue: Fine Line

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 38

Crowd Surfers- 0

Stage Divers- 0

Mosh-ability- 2 out of 10

Broken Bones- None Spotted

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)-

Gustaf – 3

Dehd – 0

Celebrity Sightings – None

Overall Score – 8.8 out of 10

Show on Deck — Big D and the Kids Table – Devon Kay & The Solutions

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