Girl at the Rock Shows

I’ve been in the mood for cozy music lately. I know I’ve talked about it a lot lately, but winter is coming, and it’s my favorite time of the year. I love it when it gets unbearably cold to the point where you don’t leave the house. I love sitting at home with a soup in the crockpot and a candle going. What can I say? I’m a cozy girl who lives her best life in the dead of winter. Basically, I turn into a basic Minnesota girl in the winter. Although we are still a few weeks away from the brunt of the Arctic tundra that the Twin Cities often turn into, I’m in the mood for it, and I like my music to match the vibe. I like soft and tender songs. Sweet melodies dancing around my head and house. That’s precisely what I got at The Palace Theatre on Friday night, and it felt like it was the concert God’s setting the stage for what will surely be a beautiful winter season.

Opening up the sold-out show on Friday night was Icelandic singer/ songwriter Arny Margret. I felt like I had to strain my ears to hear her during her quick, thirty-minute opening set, but that added to the mystery of this woman. She was soft and delicate both in her aura and her music. Although everything was super soft and quiet, I caught onto a sort of ferocity behind everything she did. That ferocity came in her words. Although they were quiet again, and at times hard to hear, you could feel the stories she was telling. I didn’t catch any lines in particular, but I feel like Arny’s music told the story of a small town girl who just wanted to be heard but never imagined it would actually happen. A face in the crowd with a beautiful face just waiting for her chance– is this her chance? Reading up on Arny, this is one of many, and it seems that these stories of longing for something bigger than her small-town roots are no longer fiction. She is living a dream, and I feel that this added a subtle sense of ferocity to her set.

Arny is one of those performers who seems not to feel quite comfortable on stage, yet it adds to the beauty and softness of her performance. Her words between songs were just as timid and cautious as her music seemed to be, but I kind of liked the mystery and intimacy that this brought to her set. This all makes it sound like Arny’s set was a write-off, a set that could have been easily slept through, but that is not at all the case. Although definitely not the most exciting set I’ve seen this week or the most exuberant, the beauty of her music and aura was spellbinding to say the least.

As mentioned, I turn a bit basic in the winter and, for me, that means listening to indie-folk music. I don’t know what it is, but bands like Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers just seem to hit a bit harder for me in the winter, and on the days when I don’t know what to listen to, I tend to lean into this world as the snow falls. It’s a far cry from my normal world of pop-punk bangers and headbanging metal anthems, but it’s a world that I treasure, so to see a band like Of Monsters and Men perform live as the seasons are starting to change seemed all too perfect.

Formed in 2010, Of Monsters and Men is an English-language Icelandic indie folk-rock band. They hit it huge in 2011 with their song “Little Talks,” and although I feel like many people caught onto that song and then moved on, this band never stopped producing heartfelt folk songs for anyone who wanted to listen and feel a sense of passion in their soul. Since their start, Of Monsters and Men have released four albums, including ‘All Is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade’ earlier this year. Although the majority of their set seemed to revolve around this new album, the band threw it back to their debut 2011 album, ‘My Head Is an Animal’, a few times, giving the sold-out audience a chance to not only get nostalgic with the band, but also giving us a little insight into the evolution of this band.

Much like the set from Arny Margret, Of Monsters and Men’s time on stage had a velvet touch to it. It was lush and deep, but at the same time, some moments felt more like a feather floating through the air. The way this band could balance a sense of intimate darkness with bright flashes of whimsy was unreal. I mean, you can hear it in their music, but there was just something so profound about seeing them do it live. Their set wasn’t exciting. I won’t lie. The members of this group just stood there and played their music (flawlessly, I might add). The stage set-up was pretty simple. Just some gorgeous lights behind the band that added angular shadows and a sense of drama. Really, nothing to write home about, but when you put all of these things together, you are left with a truly stunning show. Of Monsters and Men don’t need to be exciting because, let’s be honest, their music isn’t intense in any way, shape, or form, but it’s beautiful, and I loved how their performance mirrored that beauty.

I was honestly ready for a party by the time Friday night rolled around. I had met up with a friend for dinner and some drinks before this show because they have been going through it lately. It got me in the mood for a super energetic show, which is a far cry from what I got here. That being said, I feel like the concert Gods knew me better than I knew myself with this choice for my Friday night show. The cozy nature, combined with the beauty of it all, gave me a sense of calm and peace that I didn’t know I was so desperately seeking.

Line Up:

Arny Margret

Of Monsters and Men

Venue: Palace Theatre

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 39

Crowd Surfers- 0

Stage Divers- 0

Mosh-ability- 0 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- 3

Idiots Taken Out By Security – 1

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

Arny Margret – 0

Of Monsters and Men – 0

Overall Score –8 out of 10

Show on Deck —Red Bull Directions with DJ Pee .Wee (AKA Anderson .PAAK)– Don’t ask– I have no clue what this is but I am so very excited!

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