Sunday Funday with Messer and Saul at The What’s Up Lounge 4-28-19

Messer and Saul made their return to Mankato for Sunday Funday, April 28th at The What’s Up Lounge.  As I ascended the stairs that I have gotten used to again, I could hear quite a few people talking and was pleasantly surprised by the number of people yet again!  Not as many as previous shows, but still a good showing for a Sunday.  I arrived a little closer to the start time than I would have liked, but at least I didn’t miss anything!  Spirits seemed to be high as I’m sure many were relieved that the snow prediction hadn’t come true!

Saul took the stage right after I got there.  I said a lot of great things when they were here a little over a month ago, but if you didn’t catch that review I can tell you that Saul is a band to watch.  Their recent popularity on Octane as well as just being signed on with SpineFarm Records has resulted in many more people hearing the name Saul as well as hearing their music.  Rock 95  here in Mankato and many other stations play them quite frequently as well.  This show was pretty much what I’ve come to expect from Saul.  Tons of energy when they are on stage and plenty of opportunities for the crowd to participate.  They built the momentum throughout their set and ended with their newer single, “Brother”.  Needless to say, I had a great time and Saul will always be a band I head out to see whenever I can!

Only two bands scheduled for this show, so next up was Messer.  I caught them a couple of time before this and was always impressed.  The smaller stage at The What’s Up didn’t offer the five piece as much room as they probably wanted, but they put on a great show anyway!  The last show at Red Rocks was quite interesting and they brought quite the light setup with them.  This show didn’t have as many of the lights, but there were still enough to brighten the place up!  I’m sure the loading of everything up the stairs deterred them from bringing more up.  Their newer single, “Simple Man”, has been doing well on YouTube with almost 100,000 views!  The live show was very high energy and all the songs sounded very close to the recordings, which was really cool.  The crowd might not have been very big, but the show they put on equaled that of one in a large arena!  As cool as their live show was, they are even cooler to hang around with after the show!  This being a smaller show and one that ended earlier, I was able to hang out and talk with them!  Messer has a lot of cool things going on and I learned they do cooking videos on YouTube called, “What’s Cooking with the Messer”!  The guys said they would return to Mankato, so be on the lookout for that to happen and be sure we fill whatever venue Messer plays at next time!

As always, get out and support live performances and I’ll see you out there!