Girl at the Rock Shows

I have a million stories about seeing a band in a super intimate venue right before they blow the heck up. From acts like Yungblud and Billie Eilish at the 7th Street Entry (250-person capacity) to Nathaniel Rateliff at The Turf Club (350-person capacity), I could go on and on about seeing your new favorite band in a super small venue, often with a super small audience. Although Tuesday night at The Underground Music Cafe didn’t have a super small audience (it was a sold-out show with around 200 people in attendance), I truly believe that this is going to turn into one of those shows where I look back on it and wonder how in the heck I got so lucky to catch a band at the beginning of their come-up.

Although this applies to the headliner, not the opener, opening act Gauze absolutely caught my attention as they kicked things off bright and early on Tuesday night. Gauze’s sound is stuck somewhere between metal and grunge. That’s not a new blend, but this local band pulls it off in a truly incredible way. For me, the vocals really struck me. At times, you could feel Kurt Cobain being channeled, and at others, you got a bit more of a Paramore-styled Hayley Williams vibe. Both sides of the vocals are underscored by an intense, metal-inspired vibe that absolutely tore the house down. The instrumentation seemed to follow suit. At times, they created the perfect eerie, dark backdrop for the vocals to thrive, but at other times, they led the charge, filling the intimate room with intensity and power that was more than enough to knock you on your butt.

It wasn’t just the sound of this band that had me hooked; it was also their energy. From the first note of their set to the final note hanging in the air, this group felt genuine. Not just genuine musicians, but genuine people. Excitement radiated from the stage and told me everything I needed to know about this band. Sure, it was an honor to play this show and be the sole opener hand-chosen by the headliner, but they had clearly worked their butts off to get here, and they weren’t going to let a single moment of this set pass them by. At the same time, they weren’t going to miss out on having fun. Their music may have been super intense at times, but you never left wondering whether this band was having fun on that stage. From smiles to cheers, watching Gauze perform was pure joy and the perfect way to set the stage for what was to come.

The Rat Utopia Experiment (T.R.U.E.) is taking over the world, and this is the only time I get to see them in such an intimate space. This is not up for debate. This is just the way it is, and if you missed this opportunity, I feel bad for you, but I have a good feeling that they will be back soon, just in a much bigger space.

Formed in June of 2022, T.R.U.E. is a band that has created its own kind of sound that a lot of people call “circus punk,” but I feel like that makes them seem like a joke, and that is so damn wrong. Sure, the band and the fans that come out to see them often wear clown makeup, and there are subtle carnival-esque elements to some of the fills in their music, but overall, I would consider T.R.U.E. just a straight-up punk band with a lean into something a bit more chaotic at times and a lean into something a bit more tender at others. Really, there’s no way to classify this band, but that’s part of their charm, and part of what got me hooked the first time I heard them.

For me, it was their song “Lobotomize Me.” This angsty little anthem is full of piss and vinegar, but as you follow along with the vocals, you see the depth this band has, and that depth is like an ocean I found myself swimming in on Tuesday night. Whether it’s a rowdy anthem like “Lobotomize Me” or one of their more serious songs that addresses the current state of the world, this band is a trip, as real as it is delightful. They aren’t afraid to show emotion. They aren’t afraid to call out the bad guys, and they won’t let you leave one of their shows without having the time of your life. Whether you spent their super-quick set on Tuesday night moshing your way along to their angst or just lingering in the back of the long, narrow venue, you didn’t just hear T.R.U.E.’s music; you felt their message.

I don’t know their exact ages or anything like that, but I do know this band is young, and they drew a young crowd on Tuesday night. I think this made everything they say stick just a bit harder. The band talked about what was happening with the Cornell College incident. Did you forget about that whole thing because it fell out of the news so quickly? Not this band and not this crowd. They encouraged people to keep talking about it and told the kids in the crowd it got pushed out of the news because it’s a story meant to be swept under the rug, but that shouldn’t be how it is. I know this, and, to some of us older people, it’s just the way of the world and we do our best to keep fighting the good fight but, at times, it turns into a fruitless experidition, but I loved how this band was taking the time to open up the eyes of the youth to how things happen. It filled my heart not only with love, but with hope for the next generation.

This show was part of T.R.U.E.’s first-ever tour. They are playing a few shows on their own between dates when they are opening for The Linda Lindas. Talk about an insane story for a first-ever tour. Typically, this is where someone would mention industry plants or something to that effect, because no band would be lucky enough to tour with a band like The Linda Lindas on their first-ever tour, but you won’t hear that kind of crap when it comes to T.R.U.E. This band has worked for everything they have, and they are just that good that they are already getting noticed right out of the gate.

Yungblud and Billie Eilish at the 7th Street Entry. Nathaniel Rateliff at The Turf Club. Now, The Rat Utopia Experiment at The Underground Music Cafe. Moral of the story: buy the ticket, go to the show. Be the person who has the story of seeing a legendary band in a super-small venue.

Line Up:

Gauze

The Rat Utopia Experiment

Venue: Underground Music Cafe

Smell-O-Meter: Sweat and heat

Average Age of the Crowd: 18

Crowd Surfers- 0

Stage Divers- 0

Mosh-ability- 9 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

Overall Score – 8.9 out of 10

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

Gauze – 0

The Rat Utopia Experiment – 0

Show on Deck – The Wrecks / Worry Club / Kid Sistr

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