Girl at the Rock Shows

I leave for vacation on Saturday, and I should really be spending my time outside of work getting ready for it. There’s laundry that needs to be done, cat food that needs to be bought, sleeping that needs to be done in order to really kick whatever this plague I’ve been dealing with is, and just some general planning that I feel needs to get done, but there are also a bunch of amazing shows happening in town. I wonder what way I went with my Thursday night. Don’t think too hard on it. Really, if you know me or have been paying attention to this blog for any amount of time, you know how I chose to spend my Thursday night.

Although there was no Wii Boxing match to watch as Bright Young Things kicked off the Thursday night show at the 7th Street Entry like there was when I saw them just a couple of months ago at The Green Room, I was instantly hooked by this charming local indie rock band. Although their sound is standard indie-pop-rock, there’s a jangle to it that makes you want to dance. It didn’t matter how tired I was, how much my nose was running, or how badly I wanted to stand there and cough up a lung (don’t worry, I’m not contagious, I promise); the jangle this band puts into their sound made me want to dance. The bright and young (maybe that’s where they got their name?) energy had me moving to their infectious beat. I love how this band has an almost timeless quality to their sound with that retro kind of jangle they bring to the table, but they also feel fresh with their hooks and soaring melodies. I know this is my second time seeing this band in just a few short months, but even that doesn’t feel like enough, and I hope that my trend of catching these young rockers continues.

My introduction to Call Me Fritz, the next band to take the stage, was also a couple of months ago. I remember liking what I got from them but also thinking that they got outshone by some of the other acts that night. I was excited to see if this band could really capture me on Thursday night and, well, they absolutely did. As my friend put it, “These frat boys are cute!” That may sound a bit like a dig, but I promise it’s not, and it really gives you a bit of insight into this band. They are cute and bubbly, with easy-to-digest songs and an almost party-like atmosphere that instantly gets you stuck and excited, even if you know nothing about the group. Although I found their music super easy to fall into and get hooked by, Call Me Fritz made sure to throw in a cover to really get you on their train. Now, we can all have our own opinions on Maroon 5 and vocalist Adam Levine, but at the end of the day, that band wrote damn good songs, and I love how Call Me Fritz chose to cover “This Love” by Maroon 5. As they started the song, I let out a giant eye roll, but instantly, my friend was singing into a “hand microphone” with another lovely human who had been standing next to us. They passed this “hand microphone” between them as the rest of the audience danced and shimmied through the song. Terribly cheesy slice of pop history? Absolutely, but this song got people moving, and Call Me Fritz knew that was going to happen. From there on out, their set was all smiles and all grooves for the entirety of the super-impressive-for-a-Thursday-during-the-Minnesota-State-Fair-crowd.

I had only seen clovers daughter one time before Thursday night, but I felt connected to this act on a super deep level because of that fateful show last October. I didn’t feel like I was watching an act that night; I felt like I was watching a heart get poured on the stage, and I was excited and ready to feel that again, but feared that maybe the magic would be gone now that I was onto what clovers daughter is all about. Per usual, I worry too much. As soon as Noor Shami and their band took the stage, I felt an intense and slightly heavy sense of emotion take me over. That doesn’t sound like something that would bring a smile to a face, and honestly, it feels a bit weird to say that it did, but as Noor was pouring her heart out on stage, one word at a time, the smile on my face was growing larger and larger. Going to shows night after night is great, and I love the energy that I get from each show, but it’s sets like this one from covers daughter that really stick with me because of the vulnerability. We all spend so much time putting on our faces, both literally and figuratively, and seeing someone take the stage without a made-up face and just be raw, naked, and honest in front of strangers gives you a feeling of empowerment that will always hit me a bit harder than sheer energy. Don’t get me wrong, the entire team on stage for clovers daughter had energy, but it was just a very emotional kind of energy that I instantly fell head over heels into and never wanted to leave.

Thursday night was a homecoming show for clovers daughter. They have been on the road throughout the Midwest for about two weeks, just spreading the word of, well, clovers daughter. I’ll be honest, I haven’t been paying super close attention to how it’s been going just because things had been so insanely busy right here at home, but if their shows on the road were anything like the set I got to experience on Thursday at the Entry, it’s safe to assume that this group turned some heads and won some hearts out there.

This wasn’t just a homecoming for clover’s daughter; it was also a celebration of their new album ‘Out of Character,’ which came out last month. Although I’m not sure if this was specifically an album release party of sorts or anything like that, it definitely felt like it. Noor didn’t just play through some old songs; they mentioned “retiring” the old songs and then went on to play some of the amazing tracks off of the new album. I hope Noor didn’t mean that those older tracks are being officially taken off the table or anything like that by saying they were being retired; I loved hearing a lot of new material from this group. Although they have only been around since January 2025, clovers daughter has evolved a lot, and they continue to do so. I got to see a bit of the past on Thursday night but also got to see a lot of the future and, let me tell you, the future is beyond bright for clovers daughter.

I don’t know when I’ll have the time to get ready for my vacation. I’m half hoping that someone sneaks into my house and does my laundry while a cat food fairy drops off cat food and I am somehow able to sleep at work without anyone noticing and that sleep magically makes the lingering effect of this plague go away. None of that is going to happen, and I know it’s going to be a mad dash against the clock to get everything done before I leave, but I’m okay with that because there was no way in hell I was going to miss Thursday night at the 7th Street Entry and all of the local magic that I got to witness and feel.

Line Up:

Bright Young Things

Call Me Fritz

clovers daughter

Venue: 7th Street Entry

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 23

Crowd Surfers- 0

Stage Divers- 0

Dance-ability- 4 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

Celebrity Sightings – None

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

Bright Young Things – 1

Call Me Fritz – 1

clovers daughter – 1

Show on Deck – Slayer / Suicidal Tendencies / Down / Hatebreed

Shameless Self Promotion:

Join My Patreon Here!

Buy Me a Coffee (Seriously!)

Check out my playlist HERE!