What a night it was here in San Francisco at The Regency Ballroom last week. Three bands blew the roof off the building in front of a jam packed, sold out crowd. As you will see, I was a bit camera happy and took several hundred photos that night, all of which I would like to share with you right now. (Just kidding.) But I will use many of the photos from the show to tell a story.
Opening up the evening was a band that I would see and hear for the first time. Girl in a Coma are a female punk rock trio from San Antonio, Texas who were “discovered” by Joan Jett and later signed to her Blackheart Records label. They were fantastic, and maybe a bit much for this crowd, but I loved it. The band reminded me of a female version of an early Nirvana, and they had the wall of sound to prove that they could very well hang with such a comparison. Their latest record, Exits & All the Rest has been in on my playlist on repeat ever since the show. Highly recommended.
If there looks to be some sort of screaming theme throughout the pictures, that’s not actually the case. Each band had their own unique sound that evening, one a bit more aggressive than the next, but by the time Minus the Bear would take the stage the crowd was fired up and ready.
Touring in support of their 2012 release I Am Gemini, Omaha, Nebraska natives and Saddle Creek alumni Cursive took the stage. I just realized these guys have been around since 1995. I thought for some reason they were bigger than this, and I was quite surprised to see them opening for Minus the Bear. Maybe there’s a story behind this that I am not aware of. Regardless, they were a nice buffer between the punk distortion of Girl in a Coma and the more melodic Minus the Bear. Well played, Cursive.
And finally the headliner of the night, Minus the Bear. HUGE buzz on these guys. I have heard some of their earlier stuff, but I have to say that their latest release Infinity Overhead (buy this one on vinyl as it sounds incredible) is by far their best work.
With the bands off beat riffs, funky time signatures, and stellar songwriting, they sort of sound like Grizzly Bear crossed with King Crimson. Really interesting stuff here that is cool enough for the hipsters, but odd enough to pull in the folks who truly love to hear some original music that was not manufactured by a major label.
CURSIVE:
MINUS THE BEAR:
