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Minnesota United FC vs. Inter Miami CF at Allianz Field (May 10, 2025)
Tour Dates * supporting Night Moves porch light at First Ave (Jan 31, 2025) [ Continue Reading First Avenue's Best New Bands of 2024 ] Read More
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MNUFC, the Major League Soccer team, also known as the Loons, had a big-time game on Saturday, with Inter Miami CF visiting. That team happens to have Lionel Messi playing for them. For those who don’t know soccer, Messi is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, having helped his native Argentina hoist the World Cup title in 2022. The 37-year-old is finishing his professional career with a few years in MLS, and every road game is a big event for the home team Miami is visiting.
As such, MNUFC had a full outdoor set of festivities, including several concerts on their Lawn Layover stage and field outside of the stadium. Those bands were spread out over several hours, but first up was newcomers Porch Light, who we last saw as part of Best New Bands in January. (Soul Asylum would be up later in the afternoon.)
The band could not have asked for better conditions. It was as beautiful of a day as you could have drawn up: 70 degrees, sunny, with a mild breeze. And MNUFC has excellent AV setup for the bands, so it sounded great, even in the outdoors. Given the big stage, it was an opportunity to freeze up, but Porch Light had no obvious butterflies. Isaiah Trimbo’s opening drums had the band on the right foot. As in January, Jackie Uhas’ vocals are the band’s calling card, and she delivered. In the second song, she gets to let loose on the chorus and really nails it. Considering it was several hours before the game and that people were there for soccer, Porch Light was able to get a fair number into the audience.
A call out to Uhas’ grandmother, “it’s her first time seeing us” gotten a great round of cheers. We also some got some fun guitar solos that let the rest of the band show off their chops. A cover of Mazzy Star’s Fade Into You kept things moving along. Uhas told the crowd she had just lost her job and had filed for unemployment. She noted the next song had written as a joke, “but now hits a little hard”, as it started with the lyrics “Please don’t make me get a job…”.
The next song was a little slower paced and let Uhas be a little more soulful in her singing. It also had extended guitar, bass and drum solos, letting each of the band shine. A newer song, with the chorus Give Me Something, started with vocals and guitar before the others entered. A nearly 45 minute set let Porch Light show a broad range of indie rock stylings and they thanked the audience and hustled to get their gear off the stage.
I got the chance to talk to Uhas after the show. Asking about these early experiences of being on the First Avenue MainStage and now here at Allianz, she said the band is very aware of how lucky they have gotten with these early opportunities. But she also said that the band is not going to skip over steps, noting that the next year will be a lot of house shows. Porch Light has been together for just about a year, and there are lots of ways to progress and continue to hone their sound. We also chatted about the balance of going after your passion, while still needing to make the ends meet. Uhas mentioned that the band members look for opportunities that make it easier, like remote work, but that when it comes down to it, you do what you have to, “manual labor, selling clothes, whatever”. But it’s clear the band believes in themselves, and it will be fun to see where the go over the next few years.
| thaddeus ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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