The Makes Nice @ Triple Rock

The Makes Nice played the Triple Rock on Monday night. Because they wear suits, I compared them to the Beatles. Larry and the Caveman said, "Not the Beatles. They remind me of early The Who." The band describes themselves much better than I do. Josh, Aaron and Jack are excellent musicians who could play on much larger stages, and have.

MC/VL, local rappers with Beastie Boys accents, played next. They struck me as more noisy than fun, but I don't feel qualified to judge them. I can vouch that "Birthday Suits" were good. This Minneapolis two piece punk band is touring with Peelander-Z, who closed the night.

As with their Turf Club show, Peelander-Z started with an elaborate introduction which included the rolling of a carpet to the stage. The guitar player, in all red, had dragon wings. The rest of the band plus the merch lady from Tokyo wore outfits suitable for Pokemon characters.

Audience participation started with the first song. Toward the end of the show, the entire The Makes Nice group was recruited to the stage. The yellow Peelander -Z character grabbed and dragged Josh to the stage and gave him his guitar. The Peelander-Z drummer displayed cue cards saying "Drummer wanted" on one side and "Bassist wanted" on the other. Jack, The Makes Nice drummer, was recruited with the least fuss. Aaron struggled with Peelander-Z the most before giving in and playing bass. The Makes Nice told me that indeed they continued the Peelander-Z music and were not playing air guitars. For most of the song, The Makes Nice were playing the instruments, while Peelander-Z focused on the stage show. The transition was seamless.

I was surprised by the excellent turn-out. Minneapolis was happening on a Monday night. Then, the Makes Nice headed on to Milwaukee.