Girl at the Rock Shows

Over the past few days, I have drunk an entire ocean’s worth of water and have slept more than I typically sleep in a month. I’ve been sick. Like sicker than sicker, and I hated it. Obviously, nobody likes to get sick, but I can be super hard on myself when it happens to me. Not only do I hate missing work, but I also loathe missing shows. I feel like I’m letting people down when I have to bail on a concert, and I had to do that multiple times over the past few days, but by the time Sunday rolled around, I was starting to feel a bit more like myself and was determined not to miss another show. On top of that, Sunday night’s show was one that I had been really looking forward to, so I downed yet another cup of water, another mug of tea, gathered up my camera gear, and headed to the always cozy Zhora Darling in Northeast Minneapolis.

Although this was a highly anticipated show for me, I had done zero digging into the opening act, Chastity. I had faith that, given how strong the other two bands on the line-up were, this opener was going to be just as amazing, and I was right. There was something intensely captivating about Chastity and their performance, but it was also raw and vulnerable. After just a song, the vocalist, Brandon Williams, asked for the front stage lights to be turned off. Although, as a photographer, I was beyond annoyed with this request, I loved the ambiance that it brought to the set, as it really enhanced the already emotional performance. Although this band felt more than comfortable on stage and with what they were doing, something changed when those lights finally went off, and the atmosphere just felt a bit more intimate; the emotions hit just a bit harder. I’m at a loss for words to describe this band’s sound. Some moments had a very classic post-hardcore sound, but they were quickly followed up by seconds of ambient bliss and then a more raw and almost nostalgic emo-fueled sound. It was everything I could have asked for, and I became an instant fan of Chastity. This may have been my first time hearing them or even seeing their name, but it definitely won’t be my last.

The last time I saw War On Women, the next band to take the stage, was in 2021, when they opened for Alkaline Trio at The Palace Theatre in St. Paul. I remember liking them, but come on, they were playing with Alkaline Trio —I really don’t remember much, but if they had given even half of what they gave the packed audience on Sunday night on that fateful date in 2021, I would have been an idiot for not paying more attention. From the second this band started their set and until the very end, it was all energy. It was fun and even goofy at times, but every song had a strong message behind it. As the band put it, War On Women is a political band. Political bands always hope that their words no longer make sense, but look around us. Unfortunately, the messages that this band has to sing about seem to be more relevant than ever, and I feel like you could see how pissed that made this band in a way. This entire band was great, and there was a moment in their set where every single member of this group shone, but vocalist Shawna Potter absolutely stole the spotlight for the majority of the set. She was charismatic and wasn’t afraid to get in the faces of audience members who didn’t seem super into the set. At the same time, she came off as friendly and supportive. I wish I could expand on that, but I just can’t. All I can say is, you know when you meet someone and you can just feel that they are a good person? That’s Shawna (and the rest of this band, for that matter), which was just the icing on the cake when it came to their amazing set on Sunday night.

So, why was this show so highly anticipated for me? Three words: The. Dirty. Nil. This is a band that I wasn’t a massive fan of the first time I saw them in 2016. It’s not that they were bad, but more that there was nothing to their set that really hooked me. Their name kept popping up after that night, and I continued to see them live. Each time, I would go into their set hoping that something would finally click and I would understand the hype, but it wasn’t happening. Again, it’s not that I ever disliked this band. They always brought an undeniable sense of power and talent to every stage I saw them on, it’s more that I didn’t understand why people were so obsessed with them. For me, this was just another solid band, but to other people, this band was everything. Fast forward to earlier this year, when I saw The Dirty Nil headline the 7th Street Entry– it clicked. I don’t know what clicked, but it did, and now I get the obsession, so being able to see this band on Sunday night was like seeing a favorite band for the first time, even though I have seen them six times already.

Although I can’t pinpoint what finally clicked for me when it comes to this band, I can reference a few songs that really hooked me into The Dirty Nil’s world, and I got to hear those on Sunday night. From “Rock N’ Roll Band” (a song that takes an almost sarcastic but painfully real look at being in a band) to “Doom Boy” (a song with lyrics like, “Do you delight in rule breaking? Dancing to thrash and hailing satan?”) I feel like the words of this band finally made sense to me because I stopped over thinking them. Much like their no-frills rock n’ roll sound, the lyrics behind most Dirty Nil songs aren’t overly complicated. They are more like conversations but put into catchy beats and presented by a trio who know damn well what to do on a stage. This makes The Dirty Nil seem like such a simple band, and I don’t mean for this to come off that way. They definitely have a spark and special sauce that they put into every track, but I think it took me just easing up and taking this band for what they were, rather than trying to dissect every word and note, to really appreciate them.

I can’t speak enough about the power that this trio can bring to a stage. I have seen them on various-sized stages, but Sunday night was one of the more intimate settings, and it was perfect. If I had my way, I would never see this band on a big stage again. Don’t get me wrong, I want all of the big stages for them and they absolutely deserve them, but The Dirty Nil is a band best experienced in the smallest of clubs. In the clubs where you have no choice but to get to know the people standing around you, and where the line between stage and audience is slightly obscured. There’s just something about their gritty sound that pairs with an intimate dive bar so perfectly that it almost feels like maybe this was what I had been missing when it came to this band. It makes sense. Everything about this band is real and raw, so it makes sense that their music would hit just a bit harder when in a setting that mirrors that.

I was all over the place in this review. I know, and I’m sorry. Part of that is probably due to me still trying to fight off whatever illness is still trying to drag me down, but the majority of this is because Sunday night was one of those just really good shows. One of those shows where everything felt right, from the setting to the music to the people around me —everything was just perfect, and that was exactly what I needed after a couple of days of solitude.

Line-Up:

Chastity

War on Women

The Dirty Nil

Venue: Zhora Darling

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 33

Crowd Surfers – None

Stage Divers- 0

Mosh-ability- 6 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 – 0

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

Chastity – 0

War on Women – 2

The Dirty Nil – 6

Overall Score –9 out of 10

Show on Deck —Minus The Bear / Into It. Over It.

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