Girl at the Rock Shows

At first, I was super bummed out that I wouldn’t be spending my Valentine’s Day with my Valentine. Okay, just writing that made me baby puke a little bit in my mouth because he and I are not those people. We are more the type that thinks Valentine’s Day is a sham, and I’m more of the person who loves going shopping the day after the Hallmark holiday to grab cute and cheap cutesy decorations for the house. All that being said, I was a little bummed that my Valentine was playing a show with his band about an hour out of time, leaving me to be alone on the made-up holiday, and it had me a bit bummed out, but that feeling quickly disappeared when I got to the beautiful Hook & Ladder Theater in Minneapolis.

After a short delay that I spent thumbing through records in the Zen Arcade portion of this multi-room venue (seriously, their inventory may not look super huge, but they had some great gems in there and at super reasonable prices– if you want some new records, I highly suggest coming here!), I was greeted into the main room by the sounds of DJ Superbrush427. The beats that this DJ was spinning set the stage for the night so perfectly. They were fun, upbeat, and blended multiple genres, adding a sense of uniqueness to an already great introduction to the night. Although DJ Superbrush427 came off as just an added bonus to the show rather than a main act, Friday night would have felt way different without him performing at the beginning of the night and between each act.

The first band to take the stage was Crush Scene. Although their name felt and sounded familiar to me, I quickly realized that I knew nothing about this band and had never seen or heard them before. Sometimes that’s a question. I’ve honestly lost count of how many bands I have seen, and it’s often that I will write a whole blog post about seeing a band for the first time only to realize that I had seen them before– just years ago. How did I know this was my first ever time seeing Crush Scene? It was their sound. They call it ya’llternative and I couldn’t think of a better way to describe it. Some moments had a little country-westrn influence and others that leaned into a bit more of a DIY-punk feeling. Overall, there was a sense of grit and grunge that reigned supreme throughout Crush Scene’s set that I couldn’t get enough of. Overall, their songs felt super chill, so their ending with a bombastic cover of “Love Stinks” from Adam Sandler in Wedding Singer was a bit of a surprise but also such a perfect ending for a Valentine’s Day set. It was snarky, it was raw, and it was such a perfect showing of this group’s personality and versatile sound.

The last time I saw local legend Mayda was outside of The Icehouse in the summer of 2021. I vaguely remember that show solely because it was one of the first shows after the pandemic, and I remember loving the beauty and calmness that Mayda brought to that stage. I’m not sure what happened or if that was a special, more low-key performance of this musician or if Friday night was a special, upbeat performance, but Mayda took the Hook & Ladder stage and instantly hit the audience with an undeniable sense of energy and power. Joined on stage by just a bassist and drummer, I loved how this trio created such an insanely large wall of sound and, on top of that, a performance that I couldn’t look away from.

Although both the bassist and drummer were amazing, it was Mayda who stole my attention throughout the set. She was all over the place and let her personality truly shine throughout the set. It was quirky, and I felt that she would almost take on the personality of the song she was playing. There were some tracks that felt a bit more organic and free-flowing, and I feel like her movements looked fluid to match that. There were other tracks that had a bit more of a punk edge and I felt that Mayda’s movements became a bit more angsty and almost jittery in a way to match that energy. Regardless of the mood of the music and Mayda’s movements, she did everything with a spark in her eyes and soul, giving everyone a soundtrack to fall in love with. Even if you came to this show without a Valentine’s date, I’m sure that you were in love with Mayda by the end of it.

Rocksteady Breakfast is a local band I absolutely adore but don’t get to see often. Maybe I’m just out of the loop, but I feel like they just don’t play out that much these days, so when I got an email from a member of Rocksteady Breakfast inviting me out to see his new band, Malos Pasos, I knew that I was in for a fun time. I didn’t quite know what I would get stylistically, but I knew it would be all smiles, and I was right. This massive band closed out Friday night with a bang. Sonically, Los Malos Pasos performed everything from ska to punk, all with a cumbia flare. Not sure what cumbia is? Honestly, I wasn’t either until I started digging into the right words to use here. Cumbia refers to the music, rhythms, and dances of Latin America. It’s something that, for me, is a bit hard to explain, but when you hear it, you know what it is, and I knew instantly that Malos Pasos was doing it so perfectly.

I loved the way this band was able to take these cumbia influences and weave them into a sound that was a bit more up my alley. The beats the band was giving up were absolutely danceable throughout the night, and that Latin flare that they added in there, with its infectious rhythms and lively melodies, just gave their sound that special sauce that made your hips want to move whether you knew how to do it or not. I had been lured into this show with the connection that this band has to Rocksteady Breakfast, but Malos Pasos quickly carved their own spot into my heart, and I already can’t wait for another chance to party with this insanely fantastic group of musicians.

On top of everything I saw on Friday night and all of the amazing bands I witnessed, I loved the people watching that happened at this show. We had gotten a couple of inches of snow during the day, and there were still flakes falling from the sky, so that definitely meant the audience wasn’t huge, but the people who had come out were ready to dance. Friday night was billed as a “Fancy Dress Party,” and audience members were encouraged to get all gussied up. I regret not putting on my old prom dress or wearing one of my super lush velvet dresses, but I loved the fact that everyone else around me took it seriously. Although it had nothing to do with the music or anything like that, the feeling of everyone being all dolled up while dancing to the sounds of Crush Scene, Mayda, and Malos Pasos just really added the extra chutzpah to the night to make this show one that will not be soon forgotten.

Line Up:

DJ Superbrush427

Crush Scene

Mayda

Malos Pasos

Venue: Hook and Ladder Theater

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 34

Crowd Surfers- None

Stage Divers- None

Dance-ability- 7 out of 10

Amount of Beer Spilled On Me While Walking Around- 0

Broken Bones- None Noticed

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)-

DJ Superbrush427 – 0

Crush Scene – 0

Mayda – 1

Malos Pasos – 0

Celebrity Sightings – None

Overall Score – 9.2 out of 10

Show on Deck — Phoneboy / Good Kid // Michigan Rattlers / Elias Hix

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