I knew from the outset that Mikal Cronin’s show would get a bit crazy; this was expected. Like his former bandmate Ty Segall, Cronin attracts a crowd that likes to mosh. And crowd surf. So much crowd surfing. Crowd surfing from people who (in some cases) really didn’t know what they were doing. Word to the wise, girl who tried to launch herself into the crowd from atop a monitor: don’t do that. Things got so wild that local show promoter Mark Pesci, who appeared to be just looking to check out the show, drafted himself into a position of semi-security guy for the evening, grabbing beer bottles before they spilled over everything and protecting equipment from getting too messed up. The actual Silver Dollar security guy seemed cool with this.
Like I said, the crowd got crazy, but I didn’t necessarily expect things to get as intense as they did. That said, Cronin and band proved themselves worthy of the frenzy that many in the crowd worked themselves into as they blasted their way through a set chock full of buzzy, melodic garage rock anthems.
Taking the stage immediately before Cronin and benefiting from the packed house filling up in anticipation of his set were local band Invasions. “You guys are great!” said the singer near the end of their set. I wish I could say the same about them, but i just wasn’t feeling it. Don’t get me wrong, they’re obviously talented musicians, but there just wasn’t much to it in my opinion. There were hints here and there that the band could be capable of something great – a horn line or surf guitar riff would jump out and make itself noticed from time to time – but ultimately they never really came together in any meaningful way for me. Some in the crowd seemed to be really into it, and more power to them, but I imagine a lot of them were stoked about Cronin’s upcoming set and would have gotten excited about pretty much anything. There’s some promise in this band, and I like the surf rock influence, but I feel like they need to retool things somehow in order to make it work better. Still, nice Kinks cover though.