Girl at the Rock Shows

I love the fact that a bunch of bands from my past are currently embarking on twenty, twenty-five, and even thirty-year anniversary tours. It’s been so fun to take trips down memory lane through the music that made me who I am today. Tuesday night was no different. Celebrating 20 years of ‘Menos el Oso’ by Minus the Bear was such a lovely and nostalgic trip, but it also made me feel my age. I felt it in my knees, in my back, and all around me. There I was, in a sea of thirty and forty-somethings, enjoying the sweet taste of nostalgia but also having a slight existential crisis while doing so. Where has the time gone? How was this album already twenty years old, and how was I already a thirty-something?

The show kicked off with Into It. Over It. I forgot how much I love this band. Like Minus the Bear, Chicago-based Into It. Over It. is a bit of a nostalgic band for me, but for some reason, one that I don’t often think of to listen to on those days where I need a trip down nostalgia lane. That will surely change after what they gave me at First Avenue on Tuesday night. Their sound was flawless. Lush layers of guitars highlighted by emotionally charged lyrics and heavy-hitting drums washed over me like the most welcome of waves. Sure, the memories that flooded back as this band played were great, but getting a lot in Into It. Over It.’s cathartic music was better. I loved how they took the music so seriously, with every note being in the perfect spot and every word having the perfect amount of power or softness, depending on the word. That being said, there was a sense of personality and humor that reigned supreme throughout their time on stage. Vocalist Evan Weiss felt as exposed as he did accessible throughout the set, cracking many smiles between songs that carried an undeniable weight to them. Long story short, I may have been sleeping on this band as of late, but that ends now, and the mention of new music in the works has me super excited and hopeful about more Twin Cities stops for this band.

Another band that I wish would come to the Twin Cities more is Minus the Bear. I know, I know, they broke up in 2018 and, for all that I can tell, this 20-year anniversary tour for ‘Menos el Oso’ is a one-off kind of thing for this Seattle, Washington-based band, but a girl can dream, right? Minus the Bear never got the accolades that they deserved. Their sound seemed to always be just slightly more complicated than the masses could understand. Complicated time signatures mixed with heavy-hitting drums and intricate guitar and key parts, Minus the Bear’s music wasn’t made for everyone; it was made for music people. Okay, that sounds a bit pretentious and I promise that that’s not how I mean for it to come of as but, really, there’s just something about this band that seems to go over a lot of people’s heads but, for those of us who “got it,’ Minus the Bear is a band that is nothing short of monumental.

Minus the Bear’s performance on Tuesday night kicked off with a playthrough of the iconic ‘Menos el Oso’ album in its entirety. The band didn’t hold back. They didn’t skip over the complicated songs and didn’t save the “hits” for the end of the set like many bands do. I can’t say I’m surprised. Everything this band does is done with intention, so when they said they were going to be playing this album in its entirety every night of this tour, I figured it would be straight through. The way the songs of this album flow from one to another is part of the artistry of the album and this band in general, so to not only hear this album from front to back but also to see the band literally putting their sweat into it seemed to shine a whole new light on every song. I know, dramatic, but it felt like I was hearing this album in 3-D, which added a special spark to an already special album.

After the album playthrough, the band went on to play a smattering of other songs from their various other releases. Every song seemed to hit me just as hard as the last, and, although my nostalgic attachment to this band really only exists with two of their albums, every song they played, even the ones I didn’t know, felt like a release of emotions that I so badly needed for my Tuesday night. I wasn’t the only one feeling this. It didn’t matter what point in ‘Menos el Oso’ the band was at or what other song they were playing; everyone in the audience was having a beautiful moment. That moment could have been nostalgia-fueled like it was for me, or it could have been that person just getting lost in the sheer beauty and power radiating from the stage. Either way, I wasn’t just lost in a sea of thirty and forty-somethings; I was lost in a sea of fellow music lovers who couldn’t help but drift off into Minus the Bear’s intricate and beautiful world.

Yes, Tuesday night was a nostalgic night for me. I knew it would be when I stepped foot in First Avenue. But I don’t think I expected this show to hit me as hard as it did. Sometimes a show is just so beautiful, so engaging, and so perfect that you forget about everything else happening in your head and on the planet. That’s precisely what happened on Tuesday night.

Line Up:

Into It. Over It.

Minus the Bear

Venue: First Avenue

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 39

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 – 0

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

Into It. Over It. – 2

Minus the Bear – 1

Overall Score –8.7 out of 10

Show on Deck —Wine Lips / Mr.Phylzzz

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