A slightly less rockin' crowd then one
might expect filled First Avenue Nightclub for The Current's 6th
Birthday Bash. It was early in the festivities when I arrived. I suppose the
fact that tickets sold so incredibly fast, and mostly to MPR members,
might account for the amount of Gap and Old Navy I saw, but also the
fact that the line-up crossed so many genres and that the party would
continue for so many hours must not be discounted. One assumes a
crowd changeover or two would occur along the way.
The Current, 89.3 on your dial, has
done wonders in their first 6 years of life, reviving
a once fading Twin Cities music scene. With their stated focuses of
new, roots and local music, they have reminded us of where we've
been, shown us where we are and given us a glimpse of what is to come
without sticking to any single genre. The Twin Cities have
always had a dedicated and talented, if under-rated at times, music
scene. With our few breakout bands over the years, Prince being the
royalty of the bunch, it seemed that Grunge stars Soul Asylum might
have been our last big hurrah. Not so. And no matter how frumpily
attired, I have to admit, this crowd got that.
I didn't start my evening with tickets
to the party, and so had other plans which could not be ignored (with
my Mom, no less), but you'd have to be a rank amateur idiot to turn
down the opportunity once offered. (Thank you, Jesse!) And so there I
was, able to stay for only an hour or so at the hottest party in
town. After narrowly avoiding a fight, with a pair of gentlemen who
looked equally out of place amongst the assemblage, but turned out to
be the coolest peeps there, we settled into a more or less
non-walkway position and took in the show.
One bummer of the night was that
Cloud Cult's lead singer was ill, and the band had to cancel. This
was marginally made up for when Trampled By Turtles did a Cloud Cult
cover, in their own fabulous style, which brought the house down.
Roma di Luna dropped in with their signature mellow vibe and there was more than a little drool on the faces of the men-folk around me. I, however, started to get antsy about my future plans as RdL were playing so made my way over to the table and collected my free Local Current Vol. 1 CD. Nice! Once I had that in my hot little hands I boogied into the snowy night.
I didn't get to stay for Jeremy Messersmith, Brother Ali or Free Energy, so some might call that a wasted ticket, but I saw 'wasted' as I was leaving and I can assure you, I remember more of my experience than they do. Biggest bummer, though? Missing Brother Ali, I can feel my heartbeat
changing rhythm to keep time with his musical underscoring and I don't even know where he's performing at the moment.
Next year, this will be my only plan for the evening. And I suggest you do the same!
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