Sick of Sarah, Northtown Mall show at Hot Topic on 3/20/09
By: David Rachac
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| Members of Sick of Sarah (shown here are Jamie Holm, Brooke Svanes and Jessie Farmer) at Hot Topic - Photo by Dave Rachac |
Now, before visions of Tiffany singing to prerecorded tracks in front of hundreds of pre-teens in a mall atrium spring to mind, let me say that it was a little more -- OK, significantly more -- subdued than that. Staff had moved racks of clothing and Twilight merchandise off to the side so the band could sit on some fold-up chairs arranged in a semi-circle at the back of the store. Drummer Brooke Svanes kept the beat on a 5-gallon plastic bucket from Home Depot, while bassist Jamie Holm brought as much rock as her 5-watt mini-Marshall amp could muster. And while the crowd of 20 or so people wasn’t exactly overflow, it didn’t help that most of the high schools in the North Metro were on spring break.
I have to respect Hot Topic for providing an opportunity for local bands to make connections with underage fans, something we could certainly use more of. While one might see this purely as a marketing ploy just to bring potential customers, Hot Topic does seem to be taking their “Everything About The Music” tagline to heart, selling several products (like book bags) where the proceeds of the sale go to funding music programs in schools. In this age of recession, I would hope that partnerships like this are going to become more common, with the music and retail industries helping to prop each other up until people have money to spend again.
But it wasn’t about commerce on a rainy Friday afternoon, it was about doing a quick show and meet-and-greet for the fans. Things were delayed during the course of the afternoon when load-in for their show at the Seventh Street Entry that night dragged on, but the folks at Hot Topic kept us informed as 3:30 became 4:00 and eventually 4:45. But the gals came in, tuned up quickly and then played a shortened four-song set, starting with their single Daisies. Singer Abisha Uhl had no trouble making herself heard over two acoustic guitars and the mighty bass amp, and guitarist Katie Murphy and Holm accompanied her with sweet harmonies.
The only thing that was moderately disappointing about the whole show was a photographer (who seemed to be with the band and not a bystander) insisted on getting right up in the faces of the band members constantly to take pictures. I don’t think there was a gap of more than 60 seconds before the photographer would place himself between the band and the fans, and hold the camera two feet away from band members’ faces. I can certainly understand that a band would want to have action shots of themselves, but being constantly interrupted by someone getting in the way really reduced my level of enjoyment of the experience.
Maybe I wouldn’t have minded so much if there had been several interruption-free songs for me to enjoy, but just as they finished Bittersweet, they announced they had to call it a day and head back to Minneapolis for their show with the Melismatics. But they did hang around for a little while to talk with fans (my daughter was pleasantly surprised that Uhl remembered her from the Entry show) and to talk about their brand new van.
Sick of Sarah
Sick of Sarah don’t have any local club shows listed in the near future, but head out on the road in May and June with Von Iva (who we will see with Glasvegas at the Varsity in April) before coming back for the PRIDE kickoff party June 26th in Minneapolis.
Location Info:
Hot Topic
Artist Info: Sick of Sarah
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