Girl at the Rock Shows

The Twin Cities music scene is vibrant to say the least. We have an insanely amazing indie-rock scene, hip-hop scene, singer-songwriter scene, jazz scene, metal scene– you name it, we have it, but probably one of the most amazing things we have here is our hardcore scene. Although it’s been years since I’ve really been involved in the hardcore scene, it’s a place that holds a special spot in my heart and I was so excited to see it in full force on Saturday as part of the Snow and Flurry Festival happening at The Underground Music Venue on Saturday (and Sunday, but due to poor planning on my part, I won’t be able to go back on Sunday).

This is a two-day, all-day, all-ages festival with both days absolutely stacked with hardcore bands from here and beyond. The festival on Saturday started at 1:30. Again, my planning has been off a bit lately and I, unfortunately, didn’t make it to the festival until after the dinner break (around 6:30 PM) but I could tell by the electricity in the room and the excited smiles on kids’ faces that I had made a huge mistake and missed a lot of fantastic music. My apologies to the first eight bands that played. Honestly, there’s no excuse other than I’m an idiot, old, and life got in the way. That said, I still managed to catch some amazing music, starting with Volition.

Volition is a Saint Louis-based straight-edge band with a heck of a lot of power. I could see people trying to eat the food they had gotten during the dinner break as quickly as they could, so they could hit the pit for this band. Although I love this scene, it’s a scene that I absolutely feel my age in. I would say that the average age in the room as Volition played was closer to 17 or 18, meaning I was one of the older people in the audience. It took me a second to warm up to the idea of this show. I felt out of place not only because of my age, but because of my camera. I don’t know what it was, but even though I loved every second of Volition’s set, I feel like I spent most of their fifteen minutes on stage just trying to get comfortable in the space and with my surroundings that seemed to be becoming more and more dangerous with every passing moment (in a good way, of course).

I felt like I finally found my groove as Oklahoma City-based Agony took the stage. Although I felt that this band lacked the same sort of insane energy I had gotten from Volition, I loved the sound of this band. It was intense and definitely had a classic hardcore vibe, but there was something restrained and controlled about this group’s sound that set them apart from the other bands I saw. Again, I could have used more energy from this group overall, but their sound definitely had me hooked, and I look forward to digging deeper into what they have out there.

Si Dios Quiere from Chicago was up next. Their sound brought an almost rap influence to the day that I instantly fell head over heels for. Don’t get me wrong, this band is a hardcore band through and through with a hardcore energy and a hardcore sound, but I loved the way that they took from other genres like rap and even a little thrash metal when it came to some of the guitar work and incorporated it into their sound. It felt as fresh as it did classic, and it served as a perfect introduction to a band I had never heard of before.

I don’t know how I stumbled onto “Shortcuts to Hell” from fallfiftyfeet about a month ago, but I’ve been obsessed ever since, so I was stoked to see what this band was all about when it came to their live performance. It was exactly what I wanted and then some. It was intense, but it was delicate. I don’t mean that they sounded delicate. Their sound was quite intense and perfectly insane. I mean more with the sheer musicianship that this band has. In the words of Matt Webster, “fallfiftyfeet must practice a lot.” Everything was just so perfectly rehearsed, but not to the point of feeling robotic. What I’m trying to say is- holy shit. I will absolutely keep an eye on fallfiftyfeet. Not only is their sound refreshing, but their performance is to die for.

Prevention is another band that I am absolutely keeping my eye on. I’m sure I’m late to the party on this band, but Prevention had a classic hardcore sound that had been perfected to the point where you could hear the personality of each member throughout their short time on stage. Not only did I love their sound, but you could feel the passion that this band has for their music and this scene with every passing note, and that was just the cherry on top of Prevention’s stunning set.

It has been almost two years since I was introduced to Spaced when they opened up for Militarie Gun at the super intimate 7th Street Entry, and I have been on a quest to witness their magic again ever since then. They did not let me down and hit me with their signature blend of angst and aggression in a perfect way. Just like that fateful day in February of 2024, the band didn’t hold back. It felt like they had everything to prove, nothing to lose, and they proved it all and then some with their time on stage.

Closing out Saturday’s festivities was the almighty Terror. Terror is one of the bands that originally got me into the hardcore scene back when I was an angsty teenager, so to see them still doing their thing decades later was absolutely amazing. It was as if nothing had changed with this band. The stage was not theirs; it was ours, and the kids were taking advantage of it. An almost constant stream of stage divers leapt into the insane pit happening below without any hesitation. Vocalist Scott Vogel was quick to describe what was happening in the room. It’s not that we didn’t know what was happening, but there was something so powerful about what Scott said. He mentioned that this was a showing of positive aggression. This venue, this music, this festival is a place for people to get it all out and leave it on the pit floor. Again, this went without saying for everyone in attendance, but if you had stumbled into this show on a whim and saw the chaos, you could have easily misunderstood the night as violent. Scott wanted to make sure that was not the case, and, again, there was just something beautiful about the few words he said on this.

I know that there is so much more that could be said about my time spent at The Underground Music Venue on Saturday, but, honestly, I felt overwhelmed. I was overwhelmed by the amazing music, the fantastic community, and just the overall positivity that I felt throughout the day. Although I can’t be at day two of this amazing festival, I highly urge you to stop by and support, even if just for a band or two. Not only is it worth your time, it’s worth your money, so events like this can continue to happen.

Line Up:

(It’s easier to just put the flyer here rather than list out every single band but, truly, what an amazing line-up!)

Venue: Underground Music Venue

Smell-O-Meter: Sweat

Average Age of the Crowd: 18

Crowd Surfers- Wasn’t counting

Stage Divers- Wasn’t counting

Mosh-ability- 12 out of 10

Amount of Beer Spilled On Me While Walking Around- $0

Broken Bones- None Noticed

Spotted Flying Through The Air-Bodies

Fights- None

Pukers- 0

Passed Out People- 0

Idiots Taken Out By Security – 0

Celebrity Sightings – Members of Supportive Parents / Too Pure To Die

Overall Score –9.7 out of 10

Show on Deck —Kat and the Kodachromes / Cruise Control / Makin’ Out

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