Girl at the Rock Shows

I almost didn’t go to the show on Saturday night. It was one of those nights when there were too many shows I wanted to go to and just no way to make it all happen, so I thought about just throwing in the towel and staying in for the night. Good thing I didn’t do that. How did I end up choosing to spend my night at the Fillmore in downtown Minneapolis? It was the usual draw– nostalgia. Although it’s been years since I’ve been lost in Silverstein’s world and I’ve seen the best Thursday show I think I will ever see at Zhora Darling, I was craving a slight taste of nostalgia and knew that’s what I would get from this show.

Before my walk down memory lane, there was one new-to-me band and one band that, although I have seen a few times, I don’t know a lot about, kicking the night off: Bloom from Australia. This was the band I had never heard of before this show, but I was in love with this group the second they hit the stage. Their sound was intense and brutal, but there was a tenderness to some of their words. Bloom was somehow the heaviest band of the night with their brutal breakdowns and high-intensity performance, but at the same time, they gave me the most emo vibes out of the bands that performed, thanks to that tenderness mentioned above. A lot of bands try to live in these two juxtaposing worlds — a heavy, intense, mosh-ready kind of world and a more tender, emotional, and raw one. It’s rare for a band to dabble between the two so perfectly and create music that evokes such a wide range of emotions, but Bloom did that and then some, leaving them a standout from this show. Although it was their first time in the Twin Cities, Bloom was quick to call the audience at The Fillmore on Saturday night the best of the tour so far. I hope that means that they will be coming back sooner rather than later.

Now, for the band I have heard some music from and even seen perform a few times, but have yet to be fully captured by —Free Throw. I like Free Throw’s energy in their live show. I feel like their recordings are fine, but nothing super spectacular, but, hot damn, when you put this band on a stage, they know exactly what to do. Their pop-punk-leaning sound leans a bit more toward rage than toward emotion. Don’t get me wrong, this band still absolutely has emotion and heart in everything they do, but I just really appreciate how they add a little more angst, a little more chutzpah, to their music in their live shows. Free Throw’s set was ridiculously short at only thirty minutes and about eight songs, which was a bit disappointing, but I loved how the audience wasn’t about to let a single second of this set pass them by. By about halfway through the set, a steady stream of crowd surfers started coming over the barricade. Crowd surfers are nothing new, but something about seeing this just made me so happy. Free Throw is a band that deserves the world, and I think they’re finally starting to get it, and I can’t wait to see what that means for the future of this young group.

As mentioned, I’ve already seen the best Thursday show I think I will ever see in my life. It was a pop-up of sorts and a super intimate performance for such an iconic band. That being said, I always feel my heart speed up a bit when I’m about to see Thursday live because this band means so much to me and so many other people of my vintage. Thursday got their start back in 1997 and, although there have been some breaks here and there for this band, they have remained a constant in the daily playlist of my life. Their music is the kind where they build up a sense of tension to a point where there’s no avoiding a blast of cathartic rage to come out. I’ve always loved how that has translated in their live shows, with Saturday night being no exception. It was ten songs of pure bliss. From “Signals Over the Air” to “War All of the Time,” Thursday did a great job of playing the hits but also throwing some surprises into their set like “The Lovesong Writer” from their 2006 album ‘A City by the Light Divided’ which, even after seeing them many times, I don’t think I’ve ever heard them perform live. I loved getting lost in that familiar cloud of nostalgia, but also loved hearing a brand new song from Thursday because this told me that they are not slowing down as a band; in fact, they are just getting started in a new era, and I can’t wait to see what that era brings.

Saturday night’s show was a celebration of 25 years of Silverstein. I remember seeing this band in sweaty little clubs in Des Moines, Iowa, when I was growing up. I love them. Their sound was heavy but accessible. Their 2003 album ‘When Broken Is Easily Fixed’ spoke to my soul and brought me a sense of comfort that I needed during that tumultuous time of my life. I hung onto the band through their 2007 album ‘Arrivals & Departures’ but then fell off. There was no particular reason why, but like with so many other bands, I just feel like they were with me when I needed them and, as life changed and my needs changed, they kind of fell off my radar. What a shame because their set on Saturday night proved that this band has never stopped grinding. They have never stopped putting their blood, sweat, and tears into their music and performance. They never stopped.

Although the music at the beginning of Silverstein’s set was unfamiliar to me, as they seemed to focus on the more recent end of their extensive thirteen-album discography, the feeling I got from them was the same. I know this could be said about a million bands, but there’s something about their performance that just makes it feel like they care. Yes, they care that they are giving concertgoers a good performance, but it’s more than that. It’s as if they want to make sure they give concertgoers a place to let emotions run free. They create an atmosphere where, even though they are on stage, they are on the same level as those in the audience. Before the band took the stage, a short video played, kind of going over the past of this band. The grind that they endured to get to where they are today and, although that’s a story told a million times by a million bands, there was something different about this one because, when the band took the stage, it felt more like one of the small club shows portrayed in the video rather than a giant show like the one we were at. Am I crazy? Quite possibly, but I just really can not understatement how accessible this band feels when you see them live.

As mentioned, I didn’t really know much of the music that the band played at the beginning, but towards the end of the set, they started to dive deeper into their discography. I was nothing short of thrilled when the band threw it all the way back to that iconic 2003 album, ‘When Broken Is Easily Fixed,’ to play “Smashed Into Pieces.” Deep down, I knew they were going to play that song, but I definitely got a bit nervous as the set ticked on, and I didn’t get to hear this song until after about twenty other tracks. Okay, maybe that’s a lie. Don’t get me wrong, I was so glad that they threw it all the way back for the elders in the audience like myself, but even if they hadn’t, I would have left completely satisfied by Silverstein’s set on Saturday night. From the power they brought to the stage to the way they made you feel each word of every song deep into your bones, it was just perfect.

There was no way I was going to spend my Saturday night at home, and although there were a lot of options as far as what show to go to, I am thoroughly glad that I spent my Saturday night with Bloom, Free Throw, Thursday, and Silverstein.

Line Up:

Bloom

Free Throw

Thursday

Silverstein

Venue: Fillmore

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 26

Crowd Surfers – Lost Count at 42

Stage Divers- 0

Mosh-ability- 7.5 out of 10

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

Broken Bones- None Noticed

Spotted Flying Through The Air- Bodies, Drinks, Clothes

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)-

Bloom – 0

Free Throw – 2

Thursday – 6

Silverstein – 5

Overall Score –8 out of 10

Show on Deck — Lea Kalisch & Her Shtetl Cabaret / Jewbalaya

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