Girl at the Rock Shows

I leave for Dead Moines, Iowa on Saturday morning. Although I am super excited to spend some time with family and celebrate the holiday season with them all, I’m dreading being in that town. Don’t get me wrong, Des Moines, Iowa is lovely but it’s too small of a town for me, and when I left, I knew that it was for the best. It’s going to be a couple of nights without concerts. A couple of days without going to my normal venues, and a super lengthy stint of not seeing familiar faces around me (outside of family, of course). Long story short, although I’ve definitely been feeling a bit lazy and slacking on the show thing, I had to fit one more in before I left for my home[ghost]town and, thankfully, The Dakota had the perfect show for me.

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band isn’t just a band, it’s a collective. Maybe collective isn’t even the right word. How about an institution, a tradition, a legacy… there aren’t enough words to describe the insane amount of talent and heritage I got to see on the beautiful Dakota stage on Friday night. This band gets its name from the iconic Preservation Hall venue in New Orleans. From my understanding, this group (and the literal dozens of members) spend their nights riffing at this venue. I’ve never been to New Orleans and, honestly, this scene isn’t one I call home, so I could have that all wrong. Although the history of this group is iconic, it’s not what I walked away from this show thinking about. That said, I strongly urge you to dig into the history of Preservation Hall, this band, and their legacies.

What I did take away from this show was a sense of joyous energy. Sure, this was a Christmas show and definitely brought a “Creole Christmas” vibe to the room, as advertised, but it was more than that. The amount of cheer and love that I felt throughout this venue during the set is immeasurable. Although the only person I knew was my date for the night (shout out to Alyssia for stepping in at the last minute and making it so I didn’t have to be at this show alone!), I felt comfortable in the space. There were certain moments in the set that made me want to dance, others that made me want to cheer. Typically, my anxiety would stop me from doing either of those things, but all bets were off on Friday. I was happy and enjoying myself to the point where I didn’t care if people looked. I was going to let the music move me, how it was going to move me, and I didn’t care who saw it.

The set on Friday night was definitely mostly Christmas songs, but with a twist. There were some that I recognized and others that I don’t think I’ve ever heard before in my life. Honestly, Christmas music isn’t my thing, but The Preservation Hall Jazz Band made it my thing with their delivery. It didn’t matter whether you celebrated Christmas or not; you enjoyed the sounds and vibes this band gave throughout the night. Personally, I loved the laughs that came here and there. The band got the biggest laugh out of me when they played “O Christmas Tree.” You know the song– it goes, as the band performed, “O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree…. O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree…” That’s it. Those were the only words sung throughout the whole song, come on, those are the only words anyone really knows anyway. It was funny and definitely a bit cheesy, but it had me and the rest of the packed audience smiling and clapping along because, deep down, we were all breathing a small sigh of relief that we didn’t have to know any of the other words of the song.

Friday night was not just a trip to New Orleans sonically; it was also a history lesson. I should have taken more notes, but honestly, I just loved learning the background of this scene. of music I don’t know much about, but keep finding myself diving into. The stories, at times, felt a bit long, but the passion with which the band members told these stories matched the passion that came through in each song, meaning it wasn’t hard to follow them. I really cannot overstate the sense of sparkle that these little history lessons brought to the show, and I loved the way that, when applicable, the band would mention Minnesota connections.

This is one of those shows where I wish I had so much more to say about it, but, really, it was one of those nights where I was just too lost in the music and atmosphere to be bothered with taking notes, and I don’t regret that.