Minnesota radio station Go93.3MN has been quite active promoting local and emerging artists from featuring great Minnesota bands at Target Field to setting up events at local venues from the Northrop to First Avenue. Wednesday’s New Music Showcase at the Skyway had a great mix of Minneapolis’ Holidae and Portland’s Grace Mitchell. A third band, the Wild Wild was scheduled but got stuck on a broken plane in New York. Miles the DJ played before and between sets and there were plenty of Go Staff and DJs around to mingle with guests.
Holidae was up first. The duo of Ashley Gold and Garrett Neal burst on to scene last year with their single “Darkest Shade” This spring an album “Tantrum” followed. Holidae combines great synths, beats and vocals into very danceable tunes. A couple songs into the set Gold asked the crowd to “take one giant step forward” and pulled them close to the stage instantly increasing the intensity. “Bodyguard” got them moving and Holidae kept the energy going throughout the set closing with “Darkest Shade” to the loud cheers of their fans.
We first saw Grace Mitchell at the Triple Rock last fall opening for Joywave. A cool promising young artist. I was expecting the same this time around; well I was in for a surprise, Mitchell stormed the stage and with a shout of: “Let’s go Minneapolis” took over the venue with an incredible amount of energy dragging any audience member not ready with her. She moved all over the small stage, jumped into the crowd, shook hands and fill the Skyway with rock star vibes. Her short set included of course “Broken over You” and she closed with “Maneater” a Nelly Furtado cover she did for a soundtrack. The small venue worked really well for her and gave her fans a chance to be up close and personal with an artist that I expect to see a lot more of.
Set List: Raceday / Jitter / Runaway / Breaking / Broken over You / Your Design / Nolo / Maneater
