It had been a while since I photographed a show at The What’s Up Lounge. With my house in construction phases, it is tricky to make it out to as many shows as I’d like. However, the return of Cold Kingdom with their new lineup was one that I wasn’t going to miss. I then found out that KrashKarma and Via would be joining them. I knew this was going to be one hell of a show and I wasn’t wrong!
I got to The What’s Up a little earlier than I usually do, but the music started at 8:00 pm so I wanted to make sure I had a chance to talk with the bands before the show. Cold Kingdom was just loading in, so I knew things were going to be chaotic once I got in, and it was. Didn’t get much of a chance to talk to anyone since they were unloading and getting set up. The show did start a few minutes after the scheduled time though.
VIA did their thing first and they still blow me away. The have a very powerful and charismatic performance that draws me in. They came out strong with a nice setlist of songs and even played a newer song at the end. If that is any indication of what we can expect going forward with VIA, I’m really excited to hear more! Thursday shows are a little tricky in terms of getting good attendance, but there was a good group of people there to see the show. It was great to see the guys in VIA again and I hope it won’t be almost 2 years until I can catch them again! Check out this list to see where they will be the rest of this month!
7/12/19 Neilsville, Wisconsin @Shuster Park
7/14/19 Route 47 Pub & Grub
7/25/19 Rochester, Minnesota @Fairgrounds
7/26/19 Vaudeville Mews
7/27/19 The Back Bar
Next up for this show was KrashKarma. I’ve been loving these guys ever since I first caught them about 2 years ago at The What’s Up. I seemed to miss them when they weren’t in town because I already had a show or just couldn’t make it. I’ve made a point to catch them whenever I can since though. I love their energy, the various things they do while performing, and they are a couple of really kind people. They stay and talk to everyone after the show and even more surprising is that they remember everyone. They remembered things that my wife and I talked about with them last time they were in town. That’s really cool. They switched up their setlist a bit and didn’t do the campfire style performance of “Voodoo Dolls” this time around. They did add their cover of Bananarama’s “Cruel Summer”, which was awesome by the way, mainly because this leg of the tour is the Cruel Summer Tour! Be sure to check out the list of places they will be on the current tour. Mankato was the first stop, so there are plenty of dates left!
Now, it was time for Cold Kingdom to take the stage. I can’t explain how excited I was to finally see them live again. The new lineup, new songs, and just a general love for their music all made this a show I wouldn’t miss! There is always that handful of bands that get your heart racing with anticipation right before they go on and Cold Kingdom is one of those bands even though I’ve seen them so many times. They hit it hard right from the first song and kept a steady pace throughout the entire set. It takes a lot of tacos to keep a band going that strong for almost an hour, I’d imagine! Hearing favorites from previous albums sang by the new singer, Elissa, was really a treat. I’d seen her perform with Dividing Eden, but I’d have to say that adding her and Collin added a new depth to Cold Kingdom’s music that I hadn’t thought possible. The old songs had new life in them even with only subtle differences. Their new album, “Into The Black Sky” has been on my playlist since I downloaded the digital copy and hearing them live made me wish their set wouldn’t end. Unfortunately it did have to end, but Cold Kingdom left me and everyone else with memories of an amazing performance. I will be looking closely at their tour dates and will hopefully see them again soon! You should look at these dates to see if they will be in your area!
As I like to say at the end of my posts, get out and support live performances. I’ll see you out there!
