Girl at the Rock Shows

We made it through the week. I honestly didn’t know if I’d make it. Riot Fest definitely did a number on me both mentally and physically, to the point where, when Friday rolled around, I felt like straight-up death, but if you know me, you know that’s not going to stop me from going to a show. So, after a small nap turned into a small coma, I gathered my things and rushed out the door to get downtown to the 7th Street Entry. I was in a bit of a haze on my way down, and traffic gave me a chance to give myself a little pep talk. “I got this. I can do this. It’s going to be a good show.” I kept muttering these phrases to myself over and over, and by the time I got downtown, my eighty-seventh wind of the week hit me, and I was ready to go.

I honestly didn’t care who was playing the show on Friday night at the 7th Street Entry. I saw In Lieu as the opening act, and I knew that this was a show I needed to be at. My mind was absolutely blown the first time I saw In Lieu a few months ago at Cloudland, and I wondered if they could do it again. Although I was curious, I wasn’t surprised when this local band took the stage, and I instantly forgot about everything that had been plaguing my mind.

In Lieu’s sound is intense, to say the least. I’m not talking relentless power and non-stop intense breakdowns; I’m talking a rollercoaster ride of emotions. From the most intense growls and snarls to some of the most beautiful, almost ballad-like moments, this band does it all, and all you can do when seeing them live is buckle up, although on Friday night, that didn’t even seem like enough. This entire band is absolutely flawless, but it’s vocalist Nikki Post who commands your attention throughout an In Lieu set. There’s something about her that is just straight-up too cool. I know that sounds so cheesy, but all the girls in the audience on Friday surely wanted to be her and, as the cliché goes, all of the boys in the crowd surely wanted to date her. There’s something dangerous about Nikki. She’s intimidating most of the time with her epic growls and snarls, but there are moments when she strikes you like the most beautiful, siren-like creature on the planet. The way that Nikki dabbles between these two personalities, with the help of her band, who never missed a beat and only enhanced the intensity of the set, is what will keep me coming back time and time again. The local scene is full of so many amazing acts but, hands down, In Lieu is my favorite right now.

Dear bands, please get a bit more creative with your band names. Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about the second band to grace the small and intimate 7th Street Entry stage on Friday. The band’s name was Hammerhead. Not Hammerhedd as in the band I saw in Chicago at the Bitter Jester Festival over the summer. Not the 3-piece funk band from Portland, Oregon. Not the various other Hammerheads you could come across when looking this band name up. This was the Hammerhead. I stood through their muddy, slightly sludgey, fuzzed-out set with this feeling of, “I know this band,” but I couldn’t put my finger on it until this morning, when I finally had a chance to sit down and dig in. Hammerhead is actually the precursor to VAZ —a local band I finally crossed off my bucket list a few months ago. That’s when it all made sense.

As I mentioned, the sound of Hammerhead was sludgey, a little doomy, and very much fuzzed-out with a sense of power that was almost more deafening than the actual sound of the group. The sound of this group may have been just a bit slower-paced and one-lined than what I typically go for, but the chemistry between the three men on stage was absolutely fascinating to me. Okay, maybe fascinating isn’t the right word, but it was something that I seemed to hone in on from the very beginning of the set, and it was something I didn’t want to let go of when it was over. The members of this band didn’t just respect the sounds they were pumping over the sold-out audience; they respected each other, and that gave this set a sparkle that is as hard to put into words as it was to say goodbye to.

Closing out Friday night’s completely and utterly sold-out show was the one and only Unsane. A noise-rock trio from New York City, Unsane has been on the map since 1988. Sure, they have had some breaks here and there, but throughout it all, this group has gained a cult-like following. I am not part of that cult. Truthfully, this was a new name to me, but the hype in the room mixed with the band’s lore had me super excited to see what they are all about.

Admittedly, this trio was tired, and their sound check happened in front of the full room rather than before the doors opened. They apologized profusely to the audience, saying they’d driven about three or four days straight from Winnipeg and were absolutely exhausted. I got it. Trust me, I got it. I was feeling exhausted too, but I’ll admit I got a bit annoyed, as it took about thirty minutes for them to pull it together enough to perform; but when they finally kicked into their set, I forgot about my annoyance.

Unsane’s sound was powerful and the kind of sound you can feel deep in your soul, but like Hammerhead, there was respect throughout Unsane’s set. This band wasn’t being loud just to be loud. The moments when they were intense and felt like they were bridging into a small car crash of chaos weren’t just there to get people in the audience moving. All of these things were there to tell the story of their music and, although this was a book I had only paged through in the past, standing there, taking it all in, I was obsessed. I wanted to know every word of every line. The power and constraint that this trio has pulled you into their world effortlessly, while the way people were standing there, jaws on the ground and eyes as wide as they could get, made you feel their sound. Sure, maybe I wasn’t one of the many people shouting along to their lyrics. Maybe I didn’t know where the breaks would be or when a song was actually coming to an end, not just a brief pause. None of that mattered. I didn’t hear Unsane; I felt it and, for a legendary band like this, that’s the point.

They say that when you’re tired, you should sleep. What’s that saying? If you don’t take a break when you need to, your body will make you? I think that’s all a bit of a lie. Sure, sleep when you’re tired, but don’t miss a show because you could be missing out on a magical night like my Friday night at the 7th Street Entry.

Line Up:

In Lieu

Hammerhead

Unsane

Venue: 7th Street Entry

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 44

Crowd Surfers- 0

Stage Divers- 0

Mosh-ability- 3 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)-

In Lieu – 1

Hammerhead – 0

Unsane – 0

Show on Deck – Pitbull / Lil Jon

Shameless Self Promotion:

Join My Patreon Here!

Buy Me a Coffee (Seriously!)

Check out my playlist HERE!