We’re in the heart of winter, and that means no touring indie shows for the foreseeable future. Oh well, let’s take what we can get.
Tonight at The Down Under Lounge, for instance, sees the return of indie twang rockers The Broke Loose. As I was digging around the internet to see if the band released anything new, I fell upon their anthem for Omaha soccer franchise Union Omaha, which really isn’t indicative of their sound, but I had to share it anyway. The band takes The DU stage at 9:30. No price listed.
Then tomorrow night there’s a trifecta of bands playing at fabulous O’Leaver’s, headlined by Lincoln band Perfect Form, who we last saw at O’Leaver’s back in 2020 (in fact, I think they were the last band I saw before the Covid lock-down!). Perfect Form includes members of Pharmacy Spirits fronted by Jim Reilly. Their sound is reminiscent of so-called “First Wave” acts like Joy Division, Gang of Four and Wire. Joining them is Omaha band Minne Lussa and Lincoln act Dirty Talker — a trio featuring Brendan McGinn, Adam 2000 and Justin Kohlmetscher. 9 p.m., $7.
Also Saturday night, Bennie Does Bowie returns to The Waiting Room. $10, 9 p.m.
And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend.
That Phoebe Bridgers show sounded pretty good… from my back yard a mile away. There are surprisingly few photos from last night’s show in social media, but what I saw looked fun. When is she going to stop forcing her band to wear those creepy skeleton costumes?
I’m out of town this weekend, so here’s a sneak peek at the best indie shows I see on the calendar while I’m away.
Tonight Los Angeles indie band Lo Moon plays at Reverb Lounge. These folks weren’t always indie — their debut album was released on Columbia Records, but their latest, A Modern Life (2022) was released on Thirty Tigers. I’d definitely classify this four-piece as a dream-pop act, their sound has that glitter, warm, mid-tempo underwater vibe. Duluth alt rockers Social Animals opens at 8 p.m. $15.
Tomorrow night (Friday) it’s Benson First Friday — you know what that means — art all along the Benson booze walk (info here). Of course The Sydney always celebrates BFF and this month is no exception. The three-band bill is headlined by Lightning Stills, with Ojai opening and the exceptional Minne Lussa in the center slot. 9 p.m., $10.
Back at The Sydney Saturday night, it’s the hard stuff with metal bands Stronghold, Living Conditions and Wretchgod. bring yer earplugs. $8, 9 p.m.
If you’re wondering what the barricades are for in Benson on Saturday, it’s time for the annual Benson Beer Fest. Looks like it’s only booze and no bands. Drink up!
BTW, The Band Camino show slated for The Admiral Saturday night has been moved to Bourbon Theatre in Lincoln. And the wait for the grand opening of The Admiral continues…
Sunday night, Reverb has rockers The Dylan Doyle Band. Opening is pop punk act Blondo, fronted by Alex Malnack. $10, 8 p.m.
Meanwhile, down the street at The Sydney, it’s a mixed bag of post- bands headlined by Lawrence slowcore act Flooding. Joining them are local heroes No Thanks and Cat Piss (who is just coming off a tour). The Sydney has provided no details on this show — neither price nor start time. I guess just show up and keep your fingers crossed!
If you’re looking for info on that Little Brazil album release show that was slated for June 4, it’s been moved to August 26.
That’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend.
You know that feeling when you’re sitting at your desk at your office (or wherever you work) after returning from a long vacation, when you’re staring at your computer screen and you think to yourself “It’s like I’ve never been gone.”?
That’s sort of how I felt like this past weekend at rock shows. COVID-19 body slammed us beginning in the late-spring / early summer of 2020. Within a few weeks of St. Patrick’s Day, venues had cancelled all their shows, and just a few weeks after that, the venues themselves were shuttered, as were we all, literally.
Looking back on that time it’s still hard to believe what the country went through; what we went through. Glance at this story I wrote during the beginning of the lock down about being locked down, or just scroll back through time in this blog and you can quickly relive the peril. In a lot of ways, we lost a couple years’ worth of the things we took for granted.
And now we’re back. Again. But this time it’s different. This time it feels like it’s for good.
None of this was going through my head this past weekend at Reverb and Slowdown Jr., however. Instead, I looked around at the mask-less crowd and thought to myself, “It’s like we’ve never been gone; it’s like COVID never happened.” Well, that’s not 100% true. The Slowdown was still checking vaccination cards at the door, and there were hand-sanitizer dispensers at the door of the club. And a couple people still wore masks, bless them.
Now we all wait, holding our breath, that another variant doesn’t emerge from the COVID abyss. And now with a war in Europe, we’ve got something else to worry about.
The war wasn’t mentioned on stage this weekend. Lala Lala played to (by my guestimate) about 75 people in the Slowdown small room. It was a very young, hip crowd vs. whoever was over at CHI Center that night for Tool. Backed by an incredibly talented rhythm section and a multi-instrumentalist whose gauntlet included an alto saxophone, front woman Lillie West played about an hour of oldies and newies.
This was the first stop of her tour, and she admitted to having a case of nerves. You wouldn’t have known it from her performance. Her vocals modulated from breathy-whisper-mumble to clear-voiced-spectacular. But from my limited knowledge of her catalog, she played mainly songs from her latest album, but there were some old ones thrown in and one song she said they’d never played before in front of a live audience.
West’s voice is many-layered, and can switch in tone from song to song. On top of that, she adds electronic effects to change it up even more, including layers of electronic harmonies that were gorgeous.
Elton Aura at Slowdown Jr., March 12, 2022.
I caught the last few songs from opening act Elton Aura. Figured I should take a photo because this guy is so good he’s destined to become a star, and then I can point to this photo and say I was there when he opened for Lala Lala right after the pandemic. Elton said this was his first show ever. Impressive, Mr. Aura.
Minne Lussa at Reverb Lounge, March 11, 2022.
Friday night I caught Indian Cave and Minna Lussa at Reverb. Seemed like the majority of the crowd was there for the opener. Indian Cave is a new band and it showed. The style was very much in the emo spectrum, with the frontman’s voice reminding me of Geoff Rickly from Thursday. There were even some Cursive-esque guitar breaks thrown into the usual four-chord compositions to give it a mathy/angular edge. It’ll be interesting to watch this band grow.
Minne Lussa continues to impress with their dense, dreamy sound. I’ve said before they remind me of early Galaxy 500 or Luna and I stand by that, but the addition of warm, glowing instrumentals adds an Album Leaf flair. Frontman Matt Rutledge uses an effect on his vocals to give it a tinty, far-away sound on songs that are otherworldly to begin with. The fact that he’s singing a few of them in French is of no consequence when the vocal mix makes it hard to understand the words. No matter. It’s the vibe that matters on music that’s played in the darkest of dark-blue/purple lighting, as if the whole thing is taking place underwater.
It was great to be back at rock shows, without a mask. As if we’d never been away.
Tonight it’s all happening in Benson. First on the list is Minne Lussa at Reverb Lounge. Fronted by Matt Rutledge, with guitarist Pat Reefe (ex-Tomato a Day), guitarist/vocalist Eric Bemberger (ex-Beep Beep), bassist Alan Legge and drummer Eric Ebers (ex-Ritual Device), the band has a smokey shoe-gaze quality reminiscent of Galaxy 500 or Luna. Just gorgeous stuff. Opening is local four-piece Indian Caves (Dan Krueger, Joe Ranne, Kyle Moeller and Leslie Wells). $7, 8 p.m.
Meanwhile down the street tonight at The Sydney Darren Keen’s latest project, Problems, headlines a bill that includes Benny Leather and Gore-TXT. $7, 9 p.m.
Tomorrow night is the big Lala Lala show at Slowdown Jr. which I wrote about here yesterday. Joining Lala Lala is Chicago R&B/hip-hop artist Elton Aura. $20, 8 p.m. This one is No Vax No Entry, so bring your stuff to get in.
That’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend.
There’s a solid triple-bill tonight at Reverb Lounge headlined by Minne Lussa (Matt Rutledge and Co.), Lincoln legends Domestica (ex-Mercy Rule, maybe it’s time I quit referencing that classic ’90s act?) and Silversphere (ex-Lepers) who opens the show at 9 p.m. $8.
Also tonight, The Brothers is hosting a three-band bill with Staffers (Anna McClellan, Noah Kohll, Ryan McKeever, Ameen Wahba), Razors and Sean Pratt & the Sweats. $5, 9 p.m.
Meanwhile, down at The Slowdown it’s Satchel Grande with Omaha Beat Brigade. $10, 9 p.m.
Tomorrow night (Saturday) is crowded.
Every holiday season there’s always one gig where a classic local band reunites. This year it’s Criteria at The Waiting Room. The band, with a new album about to drop on 15 Passenger Records, is warming up for a tour with Cursive next month. Huge. Opening is Little Brazil and Lodgings (whose 2019 album, Water Works, made my list of 10 favorite albums of the year). $8, 9 p.m.
Also Saturday night, Spanish-language punk band Las Cruxes is playing O’Leaver’s with a new line-up seeing as Landon Hedges and Nate Van Fleet no longer are with the band. Mere Shadows and Towering Rogue open at 10 p.m.
Over at The Barley Street Saturday night it’s the debut of Fox, a new project by Jessica Errett Renner and Marta Fiedler (ex-Blue Bird). Fox opens for Sadie Sanner and Dave Tamkin at 9 p.m. $5.
Sunday night over at Reverb Lounge, it’s one of those holiday shows where folks are in town and just want to jam, which is exactly what J&M Mowing is. The cover band consists of Mike Jaworski (SAVAK, The Cops), Kelly Maxwell and Mike Loftus (both of Sons of…, Shovelhead, 60-Watt Saloon and Hong Jyn Corp.) and Dave Mainelli of Bazile Mills, who is headlining the show. WARNING: This is a 5 p.m. show because these guys are super-old. $8.
Also Sunday night it’s the return of Saddle Creek Records act Twinsmith to Slowdown Jr. The band plays with opener Salt Creek and headliner The Real Zebos. $7, 8 p.m.
And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend.
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This is more of a picture report than a review. I’ve talked about both of these bands recently, and their sets were as good as ever. The event was the 5-year anniversary of Farnam House brewery this past Saturday, and was held in the restaurant’s back parking lot. The bands played in front of — and off — a loading dock right outside where the brewery casks are located, which provided for one of the more picturesque live music settings in recent years. The late afternoon sun didn’t hurt, either. Who needs stage lighting when you’re in the “Golden Hour”?
Wagon Blasters at Farnam House July 6, 2019.
Farnam House set up tents and tables and served their fantastic beer along with brats and pretzels. The vibe was extremely chill; that is until the Wagon Blasters ripped into their set with their usual bombastic vigor. Gary Dean Davis was in rare form. during and between numbers. The band hinted at a possible new 7-inch in the future, or maybe more from the Speed! Nebraska label. Keep your fingers crossed.
Minne Lussa, the new project with Matt Rutledge at the helm, continued to amaze with its shoe-gazey sound reminiscent of Galaxy 500/Luna. Considering the small PA, the audio was surprisingly balanced and haunting, especially in the fading light of day.
Here’s hoping Farnam House continues to host live music in its back lot as they enter into their next half-decade of business.
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