Girl at the Rock Shows

The Pilllar Forum in Northeast Minneapolis has lived a thousand lives over the past month. Just about a month ago, Corey, the owner of this super cute half music venue, half coffee shop, announced that the city had closed the music venue side of the business because it was noncompliant with some city codes. It was a shock, as this all-ages space has become a haven for music lovers and just people in general throughout the Twin Cities. Shows were canceled. Shifts of the employees were canceled, and everything honestly looked pretty grim. But then, within a day, Corey made another announcement. Shows were back on, and the city had backed off due to the insane outpouring of support from the community. Sure, Pilllar Forum still has some changes to be made and had to make some makeshift changes to keep going, but Pilllar Forum was back, and so were the smiles on so many faces.

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t spend enough time at this venue. It’s super close to my house, but the all-ages aspect of it means shows start super early, and I always feel a bit older than I should at shows here. That ends now. Although not a frequent patron of this place, I love everything about it. Growing up, we didn’t have a dedicated all-ages club in Des Moines, Iowa. We had venues that hosted all-ages shows, but that was it. I often wonder how different my life would have been had we had a dedicated all-ages space, and I’m just so thankful to have a few of them in the Twin Cities community and am so proud to be in a community that actually gives a shit about these spaces and fights when said spaces need people to fight for them. I have so much more I could say about this venue, but I also have a three-band show to tell you about, so I’ll stop it here. Please support your local music spaces. If you’re local, go grab a coffee from Pilllar Forum and then stick around for a show. They may have won the battle, but they still have a war ahead of them.

Wednesday night’s show at Pilllar Forum kicked off with a personal favorite of mine, Hiahli. I’ll be honest, I’ve been going through a rough patch lately. When it rains, it pours, and I feel like it has been pouring ever since the tragic and sudden death of a co-worker. I’m still coping with that, but now I’m also coping with my partner’s mom being in the hospital. She’s going to be okay and should even be going home this week, but it’s just been blow after blow, and I feel like my heart and soul just needed a break and a breath of positivity. That’s exactly what I got from Hiahli’s performance. Although it was quick, I got to hear some of my favorite Hiahli songs, including “Smiling Upside Down.” I also got to hear what this band has been up to lately, with some new (or at least new-to-me) songs, which have me so stoked about the trajectory of this group. Sonically, Hiahli dips into a little bit of everything from reggae to pop to soul. Their sound is constantly changing and always evolving, but one thing that stays constant is the sheer sunshine they bring to a room, with Wednesday night being no exception. Although I have been down in the dumps lately and beyond stressed, I didn’t care about a damn thing within their first song and could be spotted subtly dancing my way through their set with cameras in hand and a smile on my face.

That smile didn’t fade or even lessen as Otter Heist took the stage next. The only band on this bill that I had never heard of before, I was thrilled to see a familiar face on stage. Otter Heist is a project featuring Erik Saxton, who I have seen in both Runaway Ricochet and Space Monkey Mafia. The second I saw Erik’s face, I knew I was in for a treat. I can’t tell you the names of the three other members of this group, but I can tell you that they all worked in perfect harmony throughout their quick set. When it came to their sound, this band, like Hiahli, refused to be put into a box. They had an almost dream-like, shoegaze-inspired track but quickly followed that one up with a more nu-metal-feeling, angsty anthem. I heard nods to nostalgic alt-rock with sprinkles of pop-punk joy on top. It was all over the place and, although there were some moments where I felt like the band had lost me, there was never a point where they didn’t get me back on their wagon with just a few words or a few notes. Even in those moments where maybe their sound wasn’t quite doing it for me, their passion was. This is a band that clearly has everything to prove and nothing to lose, which added a perfect kind of spice to their set.

Closing out Wednesday night’s festivities was the one and only Stacked Like Pancakes. I’ve only seen this band once, and that was back in 2024 at the 7th Street Entry. That being said, SLP instantly became a staple in my daily playlists. Their ska sound was familiar and definitely had a classic ska kind of sound, but there was an attitude that came with it that has always spoken to my soul a bit more than other ska bands. I was stoked not just to hear and see SLP’s unique yet familiar sound; I was stoked to feel it, and I did. Although they had some technical difficulties at the beginning of their set, the massive six-piece group didn’t miss a beat. From their original bangers to a Blink-182 song that definitely had a strong SLP influence behind it, this band has the entire audience jumping to the beat and, at times, turning into a beautiful, sweaty skank pit of flying limbs. Although I definitely latched onto the ska-side of this band, I love how SLP isn’t just a ska band. They are also an alt-rock band, and the way they have a sound that seems to mix bands like Foo Fighters with a Reel Big Fish style of energy is one of the many things that got me instantly hooked on this band. Another thing is their energy. Sure, this band means business, and you could hear that in the product that they were pumping through the speakers, but this band is also all about having fun, and you could see and feel that with the smiles that started on the stage and spread throughout the cozy and intimate space. Because it’s an all-ages venue, the curfew this venue has to follow is strict, so SLP didn’t have a whole lot of time on stage, but really, would any amount of time have been enough?

The past couple of weeks have been super rough for me. The past month has been super rough for Pilllar Forum. The world is weird. It’s scary, it’s dark, it’s tragic, sad, depressing, and just a bit too much to handle at times, but if you know where to look, you can find places where sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns prevail. That place was Pilllar Forum on Wednesday night with Hiahli, Otter Heist, and Stacked Like Pancakes.

Line Up:

Hiahli

Otter Heist

Stacked Like Pancakes

Venue: Pilllar Forum

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 16

Crowd Surfers- 0

Stage Divers- 0

Dance-ability- 11 out of 10

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

Broken Bones- None

Spotted Flying Through The Air- Nothing

Fights- None

Pukers- 0

Passed Out People- 0

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

Hiahli – 5

Otter Heist – 0

Stacked Like Pancakes – 1

Show on Deck – Modest Mouse / Califone

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