I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: September 18, 2021] Soccer Mommy [moved from March 30, 2020]

I was supposed to see Soccer Mommy open for Phoebe Bridgers a few years back.  I felt sick on the way down to the show so I wound up coming home instead.

S. bought me her CD for some holiday in 2020 and I thought it would be fun to see her live.  I was supposed to see her back in March of 2020, but the show was pushed back until September 2021.   And in that time, something big must have happened to her because this show sold out! And the crowd was really intense about her.

As soon as Sophia Regina Allison (who is Soccer Mommy) came on stage, the crowd went bananas.  It was kind of funny because Sophie is so low key.

She had a pretty full band with her. I stood in front of her lead guitarist who really made some outstanding noises –a component that made her songs even more interesting to me).  Her new bassist (this was his first tour with them) had an amazing sound–buzzy and noisy but groovy at the same time.  Guitarist-keyboardist Rodrigo Avendano on the far side added some great textures and drummer Rollum Haas whom I could not see because I giant cymbal was in the way, played some amazing fills and really added a lot of intensity to these songs.

What I’m saying is that the album is good, but live, the songs were amazing.

Soccer Mommy only has two albums out.  Most of the songs came from the new(ish) album Color Theory.  I have to say that I was really surprised she played “Circle the Drain” second because I thought it was her big hit and would come at the end.  She must have a lot of hits that I don’t know about.

I had a hard time getting clips of Julian Powell because of the way he was hiding behind the carboard TVs, but I loved the way that he and Sophie harmonized the guitar licks on “Crawling in My Skin.”

When she played “Night Swimming” she told us that her rhythm section was going to take a break.  So it was just the three guitars on stage.  Then the other two guys left and Sophie was on stage by herself.  She told us she liked going back to her old days when it was just her and her guitar.  She played “Still Clean” and then got a new guitar for the next song.  Then she realized that she didn’t have a capo.  She asked for one and we waited while one was found.  This is the second time I’ve been at a show where a capo was missing. I’ve started thinking I should bring one with me just in case.  She said this is why she never uses a capo!

After a short wait a capo was found and she said that now that she had a capo she was going to do a surprise cover.  Then she laughed and said, that’s not true, it’s the whoel reason she was waiting for the capo.  She was going to play the song “Dagger” by Slowdive.

The guy behind me had been getting more and more intense and vocal about his love for Soccer Mommy’s music.  Earlier during a lull he shouted “Thank you Soccer Mommy for all of the music,” which left her puzzled at best.  I actually had to move aside so that his yelling wasn’t right in my ear.  When she announced this cover, you’d have thought that she was going to invite him on stage to sing it right to him.

When she announced that she was going to end the set with “yellow is the color of her eyes,” I thought he was going to have a heart attack.  She had joked that this was the last song, but that it was pretty long so it was really like two.

Before she played “yellow” she said that she might be back for more songs if we wanted her.  So, naturally, the guy was going crazy trying to get her to come out for an encore.

I was super excited that she did (although I was quieter about it) because she played “Your Dog,” an early song that I particularly like.  She ended by asking if anyone was Scorpio Rising–a clear indication that that was the final song.

There was some serious jamming during the set.  A couple of the songs were even extended for a middle instrumental section that was really fun.  I especially enjoyed one part where Nick and Justin were just rocking away–the sound they generated was great.

The show was done by a little after 10:30, which is always nice, if it means getting home by around midnight.

SETLIST