Girl at the Rock Shows

A glutton for punishment? Absolutely. Here’s the deal: I give bands more chances than I probably should. I’m fascinated by bands with cult-like followings, but ones I don’t quite get hooked on. I will go back to see them live time and time again just hoping to understand the hype. Most of the time, it works. The most recent example of that is Tool. I’ve seen Tool multiple times and have never really gotten it, but after seeing an abbreviated set from them at Riot Fest two weeks ago, I think I get it, and I look forward, rather than dread, my next night spent with the band. I was pessimistically optimistic when I walked into The Fillmore in downtown Minneapolis on Monday night. I had seen The Garden a few times before, and although I have always loved the energy of their audience, the band has never made sense to me. Maybe this was the night I finally “got it”.

The night got off to a rocky start for me. I promise it was more than just the lack of lighting I had to work with while taking photos of opening act Ghost Mountain —the entire set felt a bit lackluster and left me less optimistic than when I walked into the show. Stylistically, Ghost Mountain is very much in the vein of the SoundCloud rappers of years gone by (or maybe this is still a thing– honestly, I was never a huge fan of it). The most mainstream comparison I could make to Ghost Mountain is Lil’ Peep, but I get that even that isn’t mainstream. That’s kind of the point of this genre, in a way —underground and DIY until I die kind of vibes. Although I got glimmers of that mentality, I got more of a nonchalant aura from Ghost Mountain, and it didn’t get me excited for the rest of the show. I won’t say that it felt like Wren Kosinski (aka Ghost Mountain) didn’t want to be there, but it also didn’t feel like he did. He just sauntered around the stage while his guitarist created intense soundscapes that felt cinematic at times and a bit more abrasive at others. Although this opening set definitely wasn’t for me, I feel like it somehow did a great job of warming up the audience for what was to come, and although I didn’t see many people singing along or anything like that, I felt the energy in the room build.

Following the quick set from Ghost Mountain was, what felt like, a long-lasting set from Thaiboy Digital. I had never heard of Thaiboy Digital before this show and, based on the crowd’s reaction as the man took the stage, I’d been living under a rock. I knew I’d get deafening screams from the audience when it came time for the headlining act, but I wasn’t expecting it for one of the openers. This intrigued me before Thaiboy Digital even started promoting, and I could feel myself getting lost in the audience’s excitement. That’s when the music started. Like Ghost Mountain, Thaiboy Digital’s overall style isn’t quite for me. It’s EDM mixed with more SoundCloud-style rap. The words throughout the set weren’t super deep—hell, there really weren’t many words, so I couldn’t get lost in thoughts or anything like that— but that’s not the point of Thaiboy Digital’s sound. His sound is meant to get you hyped up, and that’s exactly what it did for the audience. With dance moves that seemed like a mix of Willian Hung and PSY, Thaiboy Digital didn’t have to do much to get the crowd bouncing. I appreciated how his sound was so different from Ghost Mountain and from what was to come, but I’ll be honest: after about forty seconds of his set, I was over it and ready for the night to shift again.

As mentioned, I have seen The Garden multiple times before and have just never gotten it. As the stage was changed over from Thaiboy Digital, I tried to clear my mind. Sure, the two openers didn’t do it for me, but this was going to be the night where I finally understood the hype around The Garden. I spent some time in between sets talking to fans who had taken the time not only to dress up, but to paint their faces white with black accents much like the band does (think clown make-up but with stars on the cheeks), and the excitement I got from the fans was what I wanted. I wanted people to tell me why they liked this band so much, and why they dressed up and went through the makeup process. I wanted to understand, and I tried my best to focus when people told me The Garden just “gets them,” but it still didn’t add up. I’m all for loving a band that “gets you” and feeling completely and utterly seen by a band in a very powerful way, but, of all the bands, it was this one? What was I not hearing? What was I not feeling?

The Garden is a duo made up of twin brothers Wyatt and Fletcher Shears. Their debut album, ‘The Life and Times of a Paperclip,’ came out in 2013, and it seems like they have been on fire ever since then. Stylistically, The Garden is all over the place. It’s punk, but it definitely has an experimental edge to it. The fact that they had a SoundCloud-style rapper and an EDM-leaning act opening for them made sense, because those elements come in and out throughout their music. Although they’re just a two-piece, these brothers know how to create a wall of sound, seemingly throwing every rule out the window and doing what sounds and feels right to them. This is all stuff I 100% get behind and love, but why doesn’t it translate into a show that leaves me lost for words? All of the makings are there- cult-like following, unique sound- but something has always been missing for me, and it was missing again on Monday night.

I think it’s the energy. I get it, with just two people making all of the sounds coming through the speakers and trying to captivate a crowd of hundreds, it’s not easy to find time to add a little razzle-dazzle, but you can at least make me believe that you want to be on stage. I didn’t get that from Wyatt and Fletcher. Again, I know that Fletcher is stuck behind his drum kit, so you can’t ask much from him, but I feel like I want more from Wyatt: some more crowd interaction, more jumps, more, well, anything. I have read a bunch of reviews of this band, hoping to understand what I am missing, and all of them mention the energy this duo brings to the stage. How am I not feeling that energy? Am I that jaded? Have I just seen that many good shows where I miss out on energy at times because it’s not quite up to par for me? I wanted the chaos that reviews talk about radiating from the stage, but the only chaos I felt throughout Monday night was from the screeching audience.

I’ve given The Garden multiple chances, but it’s finally time to give in. This is just one of those bands that I don’t get and never will. That’s not a reflection on them. Clearly, they are doing something right; I don’t understand what that is.

Line Up:

Ghost Mountain

Thaiboy Digital

The Garden

Venue: Fillmore

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 19

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

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)-

Ghost Mountain – 0

Thaiboy Digital – 0

The Garden – 3

Show on Deck – Culture Wars / softly

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