Another one of my resolutions is to be known. Which is very vague, I know. But I don’t know what I want to be known for! Tonight’s show, because this is a music blog so obviously I’m about to drop some opinions on a concert, there was an Hispanic father at the front of the crowd leading the audience in a chant of, “hola!” in between the two acts.
I’m not Hispanic, or a father (as far as I know), but maybe I wanna be known as a Party Starter.
A couple blocks from the venue, there was a supercar parked on the street. A lady walked by and made sure everyone on the block knew how wet it was making her vagina.
That’d be a nice change of pace – like a supercar, I can be known to make lady’s vaginas wet instead of… Wait, what?
Or maybe I simply wanna be known as the, “aren’t you the ‘fuck you’ guy?”
I bring this up because tonight, local legends Pandas & People celebrated their 10 year anniversary. They’ve been known as a band for a whole decade! Being a band for a year is tough, but a whole fucking decade?!
That’s obviously tougher. But they’ve earned it. Their radio-friendly rockgrass music has kept their music known for a decade. And their natural comfort on stage has kept their band alive for a decade. They’ve been a known quality for so long that their fans tonight were bringing in their kids who weren’t even born 10 years ago. That’s right – Pandas & People are so well known they’re literally bridging generations.
They had a band open for them. A talented band. A danceable band. A bluegrassy band. I know they were formed during the pandemic, so they’re pretty new. I know they are, quite literally, world class musicians, and it showed in their playing. I know they’re a partially family affair, lead by a talented father/son duo, and I know that they would be a fun group of people to have a beer with.
But I don’t know their name. They said their name once but it was muddled in the microphone, and by the time I decided to buy some branded merch, they had already packed up. Out of all the things I wanted to tell you about them, their name was number one. Their talent number 2. And their friendly beer drinking attitude number 3.
Maybe it’s an oversight, or maybe it’s clever marketing. After all, if you want to find out their name, you gotta experience them first! Now to find where they’re playing next…
I know the Marquis is small, but it takes skill to make it feel smaller. I’ve been to lazy shows with 5 people there and it felt like being lost in an ocean trying to find seaweed to write an SOS with. That’s one way to experience a show… I guess… But Pandas & People, and those other guys, made it feel like a family reunion. And that’s a much better way to experience a show.
You know what? I just figured out my new year’s resolution! Prepare yourself, because this year, people will start knowing me as…
Supercar.
I had to do some digging, but the openers were the Mountain Valley Collective. Trevor Michael and the Mountain Valley Collective to be precise. Sorry if I ruined your marketing tactic.
