afters Setlist

Brett Ashley
Eff U
Painkillers
Gemini
Last Festival
Sweet Escape
Bird of Paradise
Viagra
5150
Afters
Apocalypse Girl

d’Lakes Setlist

d’Lakes Intro
New Song 2
Not So So-So Anymore
New Sun
Jive Live 2070
Chardonnay Chalet
Pendulum of Appreciation
Pleasantness
Crash Boom

Pity Party Setlist

Interlude
Anymore
Preacher
Movin’ Out (Billy Joel cover)
Poor Thing
~~Oh God~~ (not played due to technical issues)
Fleeced
BFD

On the coldest day of the winter season so far (a mere 1 degree in the morning!), the walk to the Turf Club wasn’t exactly enjoyable. But a great line up of local indie rock music beckoned, with afters headlining an evening promising to be a lot of fun.

Getting things started was Stock Market Cinema, who released their album BAD LUCK! earlier this year. The quartet (vocals/guitar, guitar, bass, and drums) had a pretty fine polish out of the gate, deftly utilizing some minor backing electronic music on the first song to buttress their solid alt rock sound. The Movies had the drummer in full tilt mode (what a beast!) and some solid harmonies from the two guitarists. A good guitar riff carried the next number, with all three front performers in as near a mosh mode as you can get on stage. If it isn’t clear, the energy level was near maximum in the early going and showed no real signs of slowing down. Stock Market Cinema did a nice job of finding ways to focus attention in certain directions, as when bassist and lead vocalist stopped playing so that lead guitar took center stage. You don’t always expect the first band of a four band line up to be particularly sharp, but these guys defied expectations. Playing one with the lead singer setting aside his guitar and simply leaning into the mic for the vocals, Stock Market Cinema played big, and when the guitar was retrieved for the last number, they had demolished their thirty minutes on stage and made a strong opening impression for the remaining bands.

Next up was Pity Party, a pretty new band on the local scene. Starting their career as a house cover band for the Wayward Theatre Company, the alt rockers have spread their wings to taking on originals. Appearing as a quartet (vocals/keyboards, guitar, bass, and drums), they started with an instrumental and it was a clever way to draw the crowd in. Because when the band got started on Anymore in full force, lead singer Abigail Marie blew the audience away. Also, considering they haven’t been a band for long, the non-verbal communication between members was deliberate and pretty impressive. I was pretty blown away by the quality here; not just vocal strength (which was a definite strength!), but musical cohesion and depth. A cover of Billy Joel’s Movin’ Out (“We started as a cover band!”) was absolutely brilliant. We got three singers on Poor Thing, and Pity Party was on fire. A bit of a technical difficulties on the keys had the band make a change of pace, which impressively didn’t throw them off their stride. A brand new song, Beautiful Day, was top notch and had the band at their absolute best and Marie was vocally off the charts.

I spoke with Abigail Marie after Pity Party’s set. Asked about how the relatively new band worked so well together, Marie said part of it is simply getting together each week with your best friends and getting to do the thing they love. Some of the members have played longer with each other, and they are in a space where they absolutely trust each other and move forward together. The other big subject we discussed was the band’s background as a cover band. Marie mentioned that when you cover a song there is an expected standard that you have to live up to and that requires a certain level of musicianship. I will also say that watching Marie interact with other fans was really fun, as it was very real and personal with each person.

d’Lakes self describes as a “indie glam pop band” and has been around since 2019. They have two albums, including 2023’s wonderfully titled Heaven Is a Silent Disco. d’Lakes was as much performance art as band, as they had a pre-recorded intro describing multiple timelines and several members of the band working their way in costume through the audience to the stage. With seven members on stage (three vocalists, guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums), the stage was full. Dear reader, those two back up vocalists were the highest energy cheerleaders and hype people I have seen in a long, long time. New Sun had cardboard cut out props that were so ridiculously over the top that they won the crowd over. This was certainly glam rock, and with four vocalists at certain points, the layered sound was all rock opera. Another new song, Jive Live 2070, played into that opening bit, and was a danceable number with the two back up singers jumping off stage. There was a professional silliness, if that makes sense. Swim noodles showed up at the front of the stage for Chardonnay Chalet, and they became a limbo bar for the audience during the instrumental. Ending on Crash Boom, d’Lakes had one of the back up vocalists take lead and she was excellent, providing a different sound the band leaned into, finishing up strong and silly all at the same time.

Last to take the stage was afters, a Minneapolis based band who released their debut album, EVERYTHING WAS BEAUTIFUL, in January of 2025. The sextet (vocals, guitar, guitar/keyboards, saxophone, bass, and drums) got started fairly late (four bands will end up that way!), but that didn’t stop them from having a strong start with Brett Ashley. afters may have beeen centered on their dynamic singer, but the rest of the band knew how to propel things forward. Gemini had the first serious back up vocals on “can’t help it”, and the outro instrumental section was great. Last Festival was a smoky club number and had a blues sounding backing music. Viagra was appropriately sultry and a bit of a cacophony musically, which seemed exactly right. With their title song afters, the band had struck a chord (quite literally) with the crowd to end a pretty brilliant night of local alt rock.