Har Mar Superstar/Sonny Knight & The Lakers-1st Ave

A friend of mine from work, Jason, moved here from our Tempe, AZ office about nine months ago. I've gotten to know him over these nine months, and learned that he plays bass, toured in a band for a year, and loves music. He'd never seen any live music in the Cities, so I took him out to see some. We were going to go to The Varsity to see Hippo Campus, but it sold out. He'd said that he'd "never even been to First Avenue." Tonight was their 45th birthday party featuring Har Mar Superstar, so we went there instead.

I made a deal with Jason that I'd buy the tickets if he'd buy dinner. Another friend at work recommended The Depot right next door to First Avenue, so we ate there before the show. We started with a sampler of pork spring rolls with awesome hot mustard sauce, cheese curds, and onion rings. Then I got their breakfast burger. A burger with bacon, egg, and cheese served on Texas toast. It was very good, despite the fatty, rubbery bacon that I peeled off.

After dinner it was a short walk to First Avenue's front door, where they had birthday doughnut holes for everyone who entered. Stuffed, we didn't take any. I showed him around the legendary club. It was pretty empty when we got there; better to get around. We found a spot upstairs against the railing and waited for 1st Ave to Tweet out their trivia question to win a table. That Tweet never came. Sometimes they don't do it, and they didn't for the birthday show.

At about 8:15 The Cactus Blossoms took the stage. Their folk-with-a-country-twang music and harmonizing was a perfect way to start off the show. It's not the kind of music that I'd listen to at home, or in the car, but live it was all right. I imagine hearing it on a juke box in a dusty dive bar.

During their set I went to the front door to see if they had any doughnut holes left. They did, but they were dry and stale.

I had four.

The Cactus Blossoms

Next up was local rap artist Sims. His hip-hop felt out of place after The Cactus Blossoms low key guitar pickin', and failed to connect with the crowd for most of his 40-minute set. He was full of energy all the way through, but the music ended up being a sore thumb on the night.

Sims

The third band was Sonny Knight and The Lakers. The set started with their horn section, and one of them introduced Sonny Knight, who took the stage clad in a white suit. It felt like The Blues Brothers opening their show. Knight moved and grooved during each R&B/funk song as best as his 66-year-old frame allowed. The almost full house was into it right away, dancing along. I told Jason after they wrapped up that they were going to be hard to top. If I had a late night talk show, they would be my band.

Sonny Knight & The Lakers

Around 11:20, our headliner, Har Mar Superstar took the stage with local hip hop artist Lizzo (whom I saw open for Sleater-Kinney in February). This was my first time seeing Har Mar, and he didn't disappoint. He's very hard to categorize. Part crooner, part hip-hopper, part pop-rock, wholly entertaining. Not playing an instrument, it's fun to watch him shake his overweight frame around the stage. He did a new song a cappella, admonishing people in the crowd for filming it throughout, saying it's not ready for the internet yet. He ended his show shirtless, doing a quasi-head stand while finishing the last song before the encore. The last song of the night was another a cappella number that was a cool way to wrap things up.

Har Mar Superstar

If I had to decide who was better between Sonny Knight or Har Mar, I'd call it a draw. Both sets were a lot fun fun for different reasons. I got to show a newcomer an iconic 45-year-old music venue for his first time, and the icing on the cake was finding my band for my talk show one day.