August 5, 2021 - Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States - Coyote Kid live in concert at 7th Street Entry along with Careful Gaze and Happy Birthday Mr. Baskets as the openers.
(Photo by Seth Steffenhagen/Steffenhagen Photography)
It was just my birthday and I celebrated by making a giant move in my life. Don’t worry, you’ll hear more about that later on in about two months but this whole shift in my life has things going at warped speed for me right now. What I needed was a show that made me feel something. What I got was that and then some. If you weren’t at the 7th Street Entry on Thursday night, I truly think you missed out on what could be one of the best post-pandemic shows yet.
Kicking things off was Happy Birthday Mr. Buckets. I’ll be honest, this opening set wasn’t quite my jam but I did appreciate it. HBMB’s music is that hyperpop sound that I can only compare to 100 Gecs because I just don’t know much about this constantly-growing genre. It’s chaotic and loud with a beat that, even if you’re not completely into it, will have you moving around and that’s exactly what happened. Although the autotuned vocals had my ears running for the door, the beat and the heart that came through loud and clear throughout HBMB’s set kept me there with my eyes glued to the stage. Maybe it’s because I’m officially old at this point but I seemed to be the only one not completely into this opening set. The rest of the audience was dancing and moving around like it was the last show they would ever get to go to (knock on wood) and that just added to the excitement of this opening act. Although, musically, HBMB wasn’t for me, I was honestly a bit bummed as they left the stage.
What happened next caught me completely off guard. I’ve seen Careful Gaze’s name before and have even heard a song from them before but, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t overly impressed by what I had heard. It was fine but just lacked a little bit of chutzpah that I look for in new music. Maybe it was my mood that day, maybe it was the song, maybe it was the weather– I don’t know what it was but I take back any less than stellar thought I’ve ever had about this band. The second Careful Gaze took the stage, my soul was filled with so much love, admiration, and hope. I don’t know how else to explain it but their forty-minute set on Thursday night honestly just spoke to me on a much deeper level than all of the sets I’ve seen lately. They made me feel a range of emotions from sadness to joy to aggression all in the matter of a few notes of a song and it left me absolutely stunned. Them making me feel of this was a mixture of both their stage presence and sound. Their presence commanded my attention with ease while not coming off as threatening. Their sound matched this feeling. The easiest comparison to make musically would be La Dispute but that’s definitely not a dead-on match. The power mixed with tenderness and the way they would build-up to the point where my heart said to go down in the crowd and get a little pit going before the tension disappeared and led to pure beauty– I mean, seriously, as I said in my social media posts- stop everything and check this band out.
As much as I love Coyote Kid, there was honestly no chance they could top Careful Gaze’s set and I mean that in the best way possible. Careful Gaze left me exhausted with the amount of emotion they made me feel in such a short time and I honestly could have left right after them completely satisfied with my Thursday night but I also will never miss a chance to see Coyote Kid live. Coyote Kid is absolutely a standout band in the local scene. From their unique music to absolutely explosive live show, they have always been a favorite of mine. Coyote Kid’s music is a bit all of the place. It’s a bit gypsy-punk a la Gogol Bordello with a little bit of theatrics a la Panic at the Disco with a whole lot of heart a la your favorite band. There’s just something so fun and quirky about this band and I feel like they change ever so slightly every time I see them. The changes, again, are slight, but it’s clear that this band is constantly honing in on their craft and putting the blood, sweat and tears in. Like the rest of the show, the audience was completely captivated by what was going on on the stage. There was a sense of appreciation that seemed to bounce back and forth between stage and audience. The crowd was clearly thankful to be seeing Coyote Kid live and Coyote Kid was clearly grateful to have such an amazing crowd out to see them.
Thursday night was just a Thursday night to a lot of people but, if you were at The 7th Street Entry this Thursday, it was so much more. What an absolutely stellar show of the power and pure talent we have here in the Twin Cities.
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