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Cindy Lawson at Cloudland Theater (07 Mar 2025)
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An evening of local music was on the slate at Cloudland Theater with Cindy Lawson as the headliner. Entering Cloudland, you will get greeted by Anslem, just about the friendliest door man in all of the Twin Cities. He’s been at it since they opened and does nearly every show. And Cloudland really is a tremendously friendly and inviting venue, giving local artists a real space to perform.
Muun Bato opened the evening. The psych rock quintet came out with that spacey sound, including a bit of theremin vibe, in the long intro before getting into the slightly distorted vocals. The second song, Otab Nuum, could have easily been on the air in the 1960’s, with backing guitars and keys. The subtle changes in sound bounce around in a variety of related genres. Muun Bato is certainly a seasoned band, keeping things moving between songs with little to no banter (we did get a “we’re Muun Bato” after the third song) and just rocking along.
It was interesting to see both band members flanking the lead singer had keyboard and guitar set ups and would switch instruments as each song demanded. There was a late number that had a lot of instrument changes for the band, including what appeared to be sleigh bells. It was the psych rock genre required epic, with extended guitar solo and checked all the boxes. Echoes of the Green was a louder and more upbeat rock number. The final number, Iridescent Christ, had all of the pieces from great bass riff, synth, and the great lead guitar work. Muun Bato thanked the crowd and headed off stage.
The Unnamed started off with a pure funk sound (appropriately titled Intro), including sax and it absolutely ripped. Maybe the theme of the night was the real professionalism and musicianship these bands brought. The Unnamed rolled into Get Off, and the intensity level was off the charts. Sneaktraded lead vocals to the keyboardist, and unsurprisingly, she has pipes. Fast paced numbers and often humorous lyrics were the call of the evening, and that energy was infectious. Fear & Violence was an excellent song and perfectly placed in the set. Some minor guitar issues led to the statement, “Let’s just get weird” and seemed a perfect intro to the next number, Adventure, giving highlights for the bass and saxophone and a bit of a jam session.
We had a bit of side patter deciding on what the next song should be, but seemed like they settled on a newer one called Disco. I really can’t say enough about how impressive The Unnamed came off here; every moment was really the best of live music and discovering a new favorite. Call me a fan. A steady lead in from the drummer (ferocious throughout) had a keys heavy influence and dual vocals for the song Sirens (police, not the Greek mythos). The song Demo highlighted everything the band had been doing all night and seemed to be a good encapsulation of their sound. As a bit of a coda, we found out the guitar issues were being caused by the bassist stepping on a cable, which got us a one word “sorry” before resuming with their final song, Squares. With a record release part coming at some point (“we’re really bad at that”), there will hopefully be more to come from The Unnamed.
Last, but definitely not least, Cindy Lawson and band came to the stage. Founder of the 80’s band The Clams, Lawson stepped away from performing in the late 90’s. She’s back at it and has quickly become a staple again in the Twin Cities’ music scene. The quintet is guitar heavy, with only drums to contrast. Lawson’s vocals are the calling card here, and they are pure rock & roll. We routinely got three vocalists, which have a nice layering effect. Girlfriend put all those guitars to work, but also got Lawson on tambourine for the first time. After a little bit of talking with the crowd, they jumped back on with Postcard, with Lawson working the top of her vocal range.
Lawson has all the veteran moves and pulled them out as the set went on. An almost country twang showed up on Go Find Another Heart to Break, both lyrically and musically. Some new songs made an appearance, starting with the upbeat and classic sounding Romalyn. The darkly satiric Screaming White Jezus had a great guitar solo and Lawson having a lot of fun with those lyrics. After another break to highlight the bands and introduce her backing team, Lawson headed into the final group of songs. Karma’s a B*tch had the lyric “but so am I” immediately attached to it. There’s a bit of 50’s and 60’s pop in some of these songs with some brutal lyrics and gave the latter songs an identifiable sound. Lawson maintained that rock star energy all the way to the end of the set and though it was late in the evening, it was a great set of local bands giving it their all on a Friday night.
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| thaddeus ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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