Girl at the Rock Shows

It would have been so easy to stay home on Tuesday night. It was a chilly night. Chilly enough that I finally gave in and turned the heat on at the house. Not only was it cold, but it was windy, and it was the perfect night to light a candle and just veg out on the couch. It could have been a beautiful night in, but, per usual, there was a show I knew nothing about that I wanted to know everything about, so, instead of hunkering down at home, I grabbed my hoodie and camera and disappeared into the brisk fall air.

I’ll be honest, I was a little underwhelmed by the audience when I got to First Avenue. Sure, people were excited, but there really weren’t that many in attendance, and I worried that maybe this show was going to be more of a dud than one I couldn’t miss. I stuck to my gut. Something told me that I had to see this, I had to feel this. Instead of turning around and just pretending like I had never been here, I got all set up, got to my spot, and waited for the night to begin. Like most nights, my gut was right, and I was in love with this evening so much the second that opening act Beth McCarthy took the stage.

Beth was wild, but not in your typical sense of the word. She was raw and vulnerable on stage, but had this way of being funny and real about it. Joking about how all of her songs were about her terrible choices when it comes to her love life, Beth came off as animated, which clearly resonated with the audience. Her sound was very poppy, much poppier than I tend to go for, but the way that she was able to take such a cute and standard sound and make it something I felt like I had never heard before was the selling point here.

Although absolutely gorgeous, Beth wasn’t afraid to make funny faces, including some that would probablybe considered “ugly.” The animated movements she mixed with these faces added a sense of drama and also seemed to fit the storytelling vibe of her music. Every song felt like an LGBTQ++ anthem, but also felt like a pop song you may hear on the radio. Beth seems stuck between two worlds. One of the slightly obscure, and one of the more mainstream. Although I would tell most people to pick a lane, Beth McCarthy dabbles in both of these worlds perfectly, and it’s what made her performance on Tuesday night really stand out to me.

Who is G Flip- the headliner of Tuesday night’s show? Honestly, I had no clue when they took the stage, but within seconds, I felt like I had known G Flip my entire life. Much like the set from Beth McCarthy, there was something so incredibly raw and exposed about G Flip’s performance, yet at the same time, it felt larger than life in the power they brought to the stage. Born Georgia Claire Flipo, G Flip is a singer/songwriter from Melbourne, Australia. They have released three albums since 2019 and are utterly unstoppable right now. That’s not a phrase that I throw around lightly, but after seeing what they can bring to a stage on Tuesday night, I say it with the utmost conviction.

Being that I had never spent any time with G Flip or their music prior to this show, I couldn’t tell you what songs they performed, but I can tell you that I loved how every song seemed to feel like entering a new world. Some songs definitely had a pop-country influence, but others felt a bit more anthemic, in a Betty Who way. Regardless of what world a song was taking you to, G Flip and their three bandmates were full of life and were constantly moving across the stage. I loved how G Flip didn’t just stalk the stage; they used every inch of it and the rest of the venue. From sitting on little platforms that were on either side of the stage to walking through the audience by the time the fourth song hit, there was something just so personal about everything that they did. They were clearly glamorous and gorgeous, but it was the kind of glamour and beauty that you don’t envy, you just appreciate. Does that make sense? I hope so because, per usual, I’ve backed myself into a corner, but if you understand these words, you may be able to understand just how stunning G Flip’s performance was on Tuesday night.

First Avenue never filled up on Tuesday night, and that broke my heart. Both of these performers deserved a sold-out room for what they gave the audience. That being said, you didn’t notice the empty space. Both Beth McCarthy and G Flip filled the entire iconic venue with so much love, passion, and beauty that this may as well have been a sold-out show. I could have stayed home on Tuesday night, all cozied up with the cats and some crappy television show to brain rot to but I am so glad that’s not how I spent my Tuesday night. I know it’s getting colder out, which means leaving the house is getting a bit tougher as we inch closer and closer to winter, but believe me when I say that it’s worth leaving the house. Those couple of minutes spent in the cold waiting to get into a show are more than worth it when you get to feel something like I felt on Tuesday night.

Line Up:

Beth McCarthy

G Flip

Venue: First Avenue

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 19

Crowd Surfers- 0

Stage Divers- 0

Mosh-ability- 1 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

Pukers- 0

Passed Out People- 0

Idiots Taken Out By Security – 2

How Many Times I’ve Seen These Bands Before (or at least how many times I can remember)-

Beth McCarthy – 0

G Flip – 0

Celebrity Sightings – None

Overall Score –8 out of 10

Show on Deck —Meltt / Jaguar Sun // Purity Ring / yuniVERSE

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