Girl at the Rock Shows

For the first time in nearly a week, I felt like I could breathe. I don’t know that going to a show on Monday night was the right thing to do. It honestly felt wrong to have a few hours of enjoyment while everything is crumbling around me in this city that I call home, but at the same time, I’m a firm believer in the fact that it can’t be doom and gloom all the time, and I knew, in my heart of hearts, that I needed a break. I needed to feel a sense of normalcy and feel live music in my soul, and that’s exactly what I got at Zhora Darling.

Kicking things off was a personal favorite of mine – Mommy Log Balls. I’ll be the first to admit that the sound of Mommy Log Balls is a bit more avant-garde than I tend to go for. It’s punk, but it’s noisy punk. Some of their songs don’t seem to have a discernible beat, while others have a bit of a groove that is easy to fall into, but with vocals that don’t seem to match that groove. Honestly, it’s an almost frustrating sound to me, but what keeps me coming back to see this band is the feeling I get when watching them. This band doesn’t care. They don’t care whether they are playing the coolest tunes in town or whether people like what they are putting out. They are doing what they want with a sense of commitment and passion that will always get those butterflies in my stomach flying.

I don’t know if this is a spoiler or not, but I need to put it out there. There’s one point in Mommy Log Balls’ set where the vocalist (who is a trip in themselves) brings the microphone to audience members and instructs them to yell. Being the oddly shy person that I am, this has always been my nightmare. I remember the first time they brought the microphone to me and told me to yell; it took the vocalist egging me on off-mic to even let out a squeak before they quickly moved onto the next person. That was not the case on Monday night. I wanted to scream as did everyone else in the audience, and it added this sense of catharsis to Mommy Log Balls’ set that made it so dang perfect.

I was introduced to Tommy just a couple of weeks ago when I saw them open for Dillinger Four at the Turf Club. Although that was my first experience with this local band, I knew they were a band to keep my eye on. The problem was that the show was packed, and it was hard to see much of anything, and it was one of those high-anxiety nights due to the sheer size of the crowd. I finally really got to experience the magic of Tommy on Monday night as they took the stage after Mommy Log Balls. Sonically, Tommy is your standard garage-punk band. Their songs are a bit predictable, but I don’t mean that in a bad way. I mean it in a way where the first time you hear this band, you love them because there’s something a bit familiar about their sound and song structure, as you fall deeper into Tommy’s world, you quickly catch onto all of the amazing intricacies and quirks that make this band such a standout kind of act. I don’t know where Tommy came from or the background of the players in this group (although I feel like I know some of the faces from other local bands), but I know that Tommy is here to stay, and I can’t wait to have more chances to experience their magic as the year moves on.

Following Tommy was another local band I saw once and fell in love with: Visual Learner. What really stood out to me the first time I saw Visual Learner was the amount of fun the band members were having on stage. Honestly, it felt like the music had taken a back seat to that on that fateful first night I saw them, but that was not the case on Monday night. Although there was still a sense of friendship and fun that radiated from the stage throughout their quick set, there was a sense of perfection when it came to their music that I really enjoyed, and really let me see this band in the light they deserve. Stylistically, Visual Learner is a punk band, like the other three acts that took the Zhora Darling stage on Monday night; you can’t put them in just that one box. There were moments that had a pop-punk flair and others that held a bit more angst and more of a sharp tongue behind them than I was expecting. Long story short, Visual Learner is aging like a fine wine, and I definitely don’t think this is the last time I will be writing about this band.

I had never heard of Alphabet Boys before Monday night’s show, and that added a sense of excitement for me. Honestly, I needed that excitement because, as the night went on, I could feel myself feeling slightly more guilty for being at a show rather than being on the streets. I quickly shook that feeling as Alphabet Boys kicked off their set. The brainchild of Naveen Borojerdi (who I recognized but it took me a minute to realize that he is a member of Makin’ Out- one of the many stand-out acts of 2025 for me), there was something nostalgic about Alphabet Boys’ sound that I loved but, at the same time, I loved the fresh take this band had on that feeling of nostalgia. There were moments of punky angst that had an almost old-school Green Day kind of vibe behind them, but there were other moments that felt a bit more standard indie-rock or even Bright Eyes-leaning when it came to the sense of emotion that was coming through the speakers. Alphabet Boys dabbled between these two worlds with ease, creating a sound that capped off the night so well while also leaving me longing for so much more from this new-to-me local band.

Was going to a show on Monday night the right call? I honestly don’t know. I woke up to the news of a buddy getting arrested for protesting, and it instantly made me feel guilty. He was out there, boots to the pavement, fighting for what’s right, and he got arrested while I was in my little bubble of live music bliss. The truth is, none of us knows what to do right now. Nothing feels right, and everything feels like a heartbreaking nightmare with no end in sight. I urge you to get out there and get involved. Obviously, I don’t want people to get arrested or hurt, but what is happening in the Twin Cities right now is absolutely not okay. Get out there and show them that, when it all feels like it’s too much to take, escape to a live concert. It will give you at least a few hours of solace and a place for you to finally breathe before you plunge back into this insanity.

Line Up:

Mommy Log Balls

Tommy

Visual Learner

Alphabet Boys

Venue: Zhora Darling

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing

Average Age of the Crowd: 37

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- 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)-

Mommy Log Balls – 1

Tommy – 1

Visual Learner – 1

Alphabet Boys – 0

Show on Deck — TBD

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