Girl at the Rock Shows

The cold is no excuse to miss a concert. The cold is no excuse to miss a concert. I kept repeating this in my head on Monday night as the “real” temperature dipped to negative fourteen, and the wind chill made it feel closer to negative thirty. I’ll be honest: I wasn’t happy leaving the house but felt that if the bands could leave their home and drag their gear through the cold to play a show, the least I could do was bundle up and join them. I wasn’t optimistic about how my night was going to go. I was afraid that my poor car might not start again after parking on the street in downtown Minneapolis for a couple of hours. Still, there was a show happening at Zhora Darling, and I was not about to miss it.

It may have been freezing cold outside but it was nice and warm inside this super friendly and cozy venue. My timing was next to impeccable, and as soon as I got inside and situated, opening act Sunken Planes was kicking into their set. All I knew about this local band was what I heard in their album ‘Intersections’ which I reviewed last March. I honestly hadn’t even put it together that I knew about this band until they started playing since I review so much music on the daily, but their sound instantly struck me as familiar and after a quick search, I put it together. Their 90s-drenched rock sound rang through my ears and into my soul. Their songs were deliberate and well thought out and although their live show felt a bit subdued, it fit with the chill and easy-listening kind of music they were performing. I wish I had more to say about this opening band, as I thoroughly enjoyed them, but it was the kind of set where you just kind of get lost in the space you’re in with the music going through your veins. There was nothing super epic or even super exciting about it, yet it was beyond perfect. It told me that I had made the right decision as far as braving the cold on Monday night.

Local indie rockers Modern Wildlife were up next. This band, like the final act to grace the stage, was completely new to me, but I knew that I wanted to learn all I could about this band within their first song. Like Sunken Planes, there really isn’t much to talk about when it comes to this trio’s performance. The three musicians got up on stage, played their tracks, and left, yet something struck me super hard about their music. It was super and highly emotional, like how a post-hardcore band may hit you. Like poetry, the lyrics washed over you and made you think about everything from your daily life to moving you to the brink of an existential crisis. That all being said, there was something super enjoyable about their set to the point where I would consider it easy listening. I understand that that completely contradicts what I just said, but that was part of the charm of this band. They had me hooked, intrigued, confused, and in love all at the same time.

Just as Modern Wildlife had me a bit confused about how to feel throughout their set, closing rockers Dashed had me confused about what the heck was going on (but in a good way). This band is the kind of band that could easily be considered a rock band, but getting more specific than that would be a bit difficult. There were elements of grunge and punk looped into their sound, and just when I was about ready to peg them as an indie rock band with punk sensibilities, they hit the modest audience with a cover of Los Straitjacket, giving them a more surf rock kind of vibe. As the set went on, this group continued to go down twisty streets of all kinds of genres, bringing it all together into a cohesive sound that was truly delightful. One of the common factors throughout the set was the vocals, and that’s what I really latched onto throughout Dashed’s set. They were perfectly raspy and fuzzy yet came through loud and clear. The emphasis on different words and phrases throughout the set drove home the lyrical genius behind Dashed and the way the vocals danced over the seemingly random yet perfectly curated instrumentation. 

It would have been so easy to just bail on Monday night, citing the cold weather and the fact that I was afraid that my Prius wouldn’t start after sitting in the bone-chilling cold for a couple of hours, but that’s not my style. I feel like I was given a gift for sucking it up and braving the subzero temperatures, and that gift was the beautiful sets from Sunken Planes, Modern Wildlife, and Dashed. Sure, it wasn’t the most exciting show I’ve seen this year. It may not even be the most exciting one of the week. Still, it was a show where passion and love were in the spotlight, and that’s all I needed to know that I made the right choice in spending my Monday night at Zhora Darling.

Line Up:

Sunken Planes

Modern Wildlife

Dashed

Venue: Zhora Darling

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 28

Crowd Surfers- 0

Stage Divers- 0

Mosh-ability- 0 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)-

Sunken Planes – 0

Modern Wildlife – 0

Dashed – 0

Celebrity Sightings – None

Overall Score – 8.2 out of 10

Show on Deck —13 Howell / The Customers / Field Hospitals / TH3

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